The Heir part 3
This picks up on our key verse for this Rant series. How we are heirs, but until we gain that maturity we still act like servants, or slaves. Galatians 4:7, "Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." See, its almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy. We think of ourselves as anything less than the beloved Son of God and then we act like we're less than the beloved Son of God. We try to be something we're not, and that's the absolute wrong way to go about it. Maturity is not changing from something we're not to something we're supposed to be. Maturity is understanding and accepting that we are who God says we are. Look at 1 John 3:2, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." We ARE the Son(s) of God. Right now. We ARE no more a servant, but a son. We ARE God's heir. He died to give us everything He has. Everything He is. That's what love is: Giving everything you have and everything you are. That's how God showed His love to us and that's how we show our love to each other. God loves us and we love Him back by loving each other. We ARE who we need to be. Maturity is KNOWING that we are who we need to be. Maturity is knowing who we are. Who we really are. Who we are in Christ--which is who Christ is in us. Christ appearing isn't about a second coming, or whatever. Christ appears every time love happens. That's when the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) is made flesh. When the love in us comes out of us. When we act in charity, which is love in action. Our inheritance is love. God's love. The laying your life down for your friends love. That's what God gave us... when He literally laid His life down for us. So in order to experience that inheritance, we have to give our lives down for each other. Love others as Jesus loves us. And that doesn't necessarily mean literally dying for someone. But it does mean putting others first. Esteeming others higher than ourselves. Giving what we've got and not worrying about getting anything back. Knowing that we are connected to the unlimited source of love and knowing that no matter how much we give... we can't run out. Giving is what, in fact, fills us up. Remember Jesus said He had food the disciples didn't know about? Doing His Father's will was His food? That's what filled Him up. Emptying Himself out filled Him up. Giving what you've got is how you experience what you've got. Knowing that it is more blessed to give than receive is what maturity is all about. You have to receive before you can give, because you can't give what you don't have. That's why I always speak of receiving and releasing. Receiving BY releasing. Releasing BY receiving. Filling yourself to overflowing with what God has already filled you with so that it can come out. Naturally. We're not servants. Not slaves. We're Son(s). Heirs. And we have the inheritance. Now we can experience it. Now we can live that life of love that we've been given, by giving the love away!