The New Commandment part 3
You can't give what you don't have. How could you? And that's why it's so important to understand--and why it's so absolutely amazing--that the New Commadment is simply for us to receive and release the love that God has already given us. John speaks of this idea extensively in his letters. Look at 1 John 4:11, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." Or 1 John 3:16, "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." Basically, what He has done for us we ought to do for each other. Or, rather, we are "commanded" to do for each other. I like what John said in verse 3:16 especially, when he talks about PERCEIVING the love of God. Because it's one thing to know something, and another thing to KNOW it. Head knowledge vs heart knowledge. And guess what else, seeing is believing. So when Jesus TOLD us that the greatest expression of love a man can have is--to lay down his life for his friends--that wasn't enough. He had to actually go to the cross and lay His life down. He didn't just "tell" us what love is. He showed us. And like the Roman centurian who SAW the death of the Lamb... that's where our revelation comes from. That's how we KNOW and BELIEVE that we are loved. Because He proved His love for us, and we perceived it. We RECEIVED it. And once we receive it, that's when we can release it. Because you can ONLY give what you do have. Only once you know and believe that you are loved CAN you love. Because when you receive it, then you have something to release. But here's the kind of tricky part: Releasing it is the best way to receive it. And that, to me, is what this idea of "stepping out in faith" is all about. Not waiting until we "feel" loved... I once heard about a pastor who kept a lead fishing lure on his desk so when people told him they didn't "feel lead" he could help them out with that problem... but loving in every situation because we know and believe (at least on some level) that we ARE loved. And that, again to me, is how faith grows. Faith is like a muscle. It grows when you use it. Baby steps. Love a little bit, meet a small need, and then you begin to have confidence that you actually have something to give. I think a lot of times we don't love because we're afraid of failing. Afraid of being vulnerable, and putting ourselves out there. But when you really begin to see--to perceive--how loved you are... then you begin to fill yourself with the fulness of God. What's already inside you begins to overflow out of you naturally. And then--this is John again--love casts out all fear! You don't have to be afraid to love when you know that you ARE loved. When you're not trying to get anything, but simply sharing what you already have. What you already are. WHO you already are! Jesus--God in the flesh, love in a body. God in YOUR flesh. Love in YOUR body. And He's just bursting at the seams to get out... through you and as you!