The Letter part 3
We are God's love letter to the world. "Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart" (2 Corinthians 3:3). Written by God. Ministered by us. Receiving and releasing His love. Showing people what He's all about by loving people. Letting God love us and then loving Him back by loving people. That's the whole point of the whole thing. That's what this life is for. That's why we were created. God (who is love) wanted to express Himself. So He created us. We are His expression of love. He didn't want His law written on tablets of stone. That was what man wanted. And, if you notice, God usually gives man what he wants--at least to some degree. But what God always wanted was for us to know Him as we are known by Him. To be loved and to love each other. That's the true law. The New Commandment for the New man. Love one another as Jesus has loved us. Receive and release His love. To me, it's really that simple. And, listen, I understand that it's not always necessarily easy. Because love is giving. And sometimes it's hard to give what you've got. For a lot of reason. Sometimes you think if you give it away you won't have it anymore. Sometimes you feel hurt by someone. And you can't give what you don't have. You can only give what you do have. So if you feel hurt... hurting people hurt people. Sometimes it's hard to turn the other cheek. To not retaliate. To not fight fire with fire. But there is a more excellent way. Loving people no matter what. Letting people read that letter that you are. Being who YOU are no matter what is going on around you. Knowing that the fire in you is always hotter than the fire you're in. People are going to read your mail no matter what. Judge you no matter what. You can't stop them from doing so. Instead, just give them something to talk about. Give them something worth reading. Minister the love you've been given by giving it away. Let me quote 2 Corinthians 3:3 in the Message Bible, "Christ himself wrote it--not with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives--and we publish it." God wrote it. We publish it. We are His love letter to the world. Written with His Spirit--the Spirit of Truth that leads and guides us into all truth... the truth that God is love and He loves you--in our hearts. So that it can come out. What's inside comes out. It has to. It's too big not to. What is inside (or what you believe is inside) will always come out. So READ the letter that God has written in your heart. Let Him love the hell out of you. That's step one. Then publish that letter. Let what's REALLY inside come out. By knowing and believing that it's in there. By filling yourself up to overflowing with what you've already been filled with. Knowing God loves us is what equips and empowers us to love Him back by loving each other. And that's what this abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life is all about!