The Light of Love part 4
I like to try to make things as simple as possible. Get down to the bottom line. Or, as one of my old pastors used to say, "Major on the majors and minor on the minors." Keep things in perspective. Don't sweat the small stuff. All of those sayings and cliches. And that, believe it or not, is one of the things I like about the Bible. Because even though--through twisted scripture--you can pretty much make the Bible say anything you want it to say... most of the time it's pretty straightforward. Like 1 John 1:7 (NLT) for example, "But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin." I've heard this verse preached as if to say: "Unless you are living in the light--i.e. obeying all the rules--you will never be cleansed from all sin!" But that to me, is horrible theology. Look at what it actually says: God is in the light. If we are in the light--as He is--that means we are loving, or having fellowship, with each other. And when love is flowing in us and out of us... that's the blood of Christ. That blood--that love, that light, that life--cleanses us from sin because if you are loving someone it means you know and believe (at least on some level) that God loves you. Because you can't give what you don't have, and you can only give what you do have. In order to love, you must first know (and believe) that you are loved. In order to release God's love you must first receive God's love. And that's what it means to live in the light. It is the light of love! Living in the light doesn't mean you are obeying a set of arbitrary rules that changes from culture to culture and church to church. It means you are obeying the New Commandment. Which I like to quote as often as possible and will do so here again: John 13:34, "So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other." Again--plain and simple. God wants you to love, so He first loved you. He gave you what you needed, and you can now give it away. Share it. And IN giving it away, experience it! Look at one more passage of Scripture for today. "Anyone who loves a fellow believer is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. But anyone who hates a fellow believer is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness" (1 John 2:10-11 NLT). Light and dark. Love and hate. And while I much prefer to contrast love with fear (see 1 John 4:18), I think you get the picture. Walking and living in the light is walking and living in love. Period. That's where God is. That's WHO God is. God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all. When God arises His enemies are scattered. When you're in a dark room and you turn the light on, you're not in a dark room anymore. Light always beats the dark. Love always beats hate (or fear). Perfect love casts out fear. And when you're loving your neighber as yourself--which, again, is what walking and living in the light is--you won't do anything you shouldn't anyway. You won't lie to someone you love... because you love them. That's a stronger motive than trying to "stay out of trouble." If you're loving people you won't be doing something you need to hide (and, again, I'm not talking about "hiding" a surprise until the proper time. I'm talking about things you are ashamed of. Things you don't want people to know about). So make it simple. Love people. Shine your light. Let the love that God has filled you with come out naturally by filling yourself to overflowing with that love! Receive it and release it. Let it in and let it out. Breathe it in and breathe it out. Be in the light, as He (love) is in the light of love!