The Father's Love part 3
Here it is in a nutshell: "For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16 NLT). God loved us so much that He gave us His Son... so that we might know that we ARE His Son... and not perish... but enjoy the (abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection) life of the Son! He wanted the best for us--as any true Father does for His Son--so He gave the best to us! He gave us everything we need when He gave us Jesus. When He said, 'Let there be light." The key is not getting anything. It's knowing you have everything. The ultimate truth of the universe: The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. God is love and He loves you. The Father loves the Son. God loves you. And because He loves us... we can love Him back. By loving each other. That's what this life is all about. It's all about love. Letting God love you and loving Him back by loving the people God puts in your path. That's what righteousness is. And that's what holiness is. It's all love. Because it's all God. On the cross Jesus inacted the Messianic Rebirth of the world. God, the consuming fire, got rid of everything except Himself. And He is love. Only love remains. It's available to us right now because it was given to us more than 2,000 years ago! All we have to do is believe. Fight the good fight of faith and lay hold of the gift we've been given. Which doesn't mean get it (by hook or by crook), and which doesn't mean earn it (you can't earn a gift). It simply means to know and believe that you have it. Receive it and release it. Breath it in and breath it out. Let God love you, and love Him back by loving people. We love because He first loved us. You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. So you have to first have something. And KNOW that you have something. You have to first receive. Then you can release. That's the key to all of this: Knowing God as your loving heavenly Father. Knowing yourself as His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Understanding that His love and affirmation and affection equips and empowers you to be who you really are! It's not about being beaten down and "whipped into shape." Proverbs 22:6 tells us to "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Train him up in the way he SHOULD go. Stop always focusing on what's wrong with people. Stop piling on or kicking them when they're down. Start telling people what's RIGHT with them and watch them manifest that rightness (righteousness) in their lives. Building someone up is easier than fixing them after they've been broken down. But so often it seems that it is easiest to break rather than build. It may be "easier," but building is worth it. Good things take time. When we understand God's master plan--His grand scheme--we won't be in such a hurry. Because the journey is what is important. When we're talking about everlasting life, the journey is the whole deal! There is no end! So we need to enjoy the ride. We need to stop trying to hard to fit in to what the world tells us we should be and we need to start listening to the words of our Father. The LOVE of our Father. And this is what the Father says, "And a voice from heaven said, "You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy"" (Mark 1:11). That's how God feels... about US. Because when He looks at us He sees Jesus, and when He looks at Jesus He sees us. WE are His dearly loved Son. WE bring Him great joy. And we bring that joy by letting the love HE put inside us come out!