The Point part 3
The point of all of this--of existence--is to be loved and to love one another. It's that simple. And we KNOW that. The deep calls out to the deep and we KNOW that we are loved. But there's a big difference between knowing and understanding. Between knowing and believing. My pastor always says it's not the truth that sets you free... it's the truth you KNOW that sets you free. Now watch this: "The morning sun's a new husband leaping from his honeymoon bed, The daybreaking sun an athlete racing to the tape. That's how God's Word vaults across the skies from sunrise to sunset, Melting ice, scorching deserts, warming hearts to faith. The revelation of GOD is whole and pulls our lives together. The signposts of GOD are clear and point out the right road. The life-maps of GOD are right, showing the way to joy. The directions of GOD are plain and easy on the eyes" (Psalm 19:5-8 MSG). It's all about the sun because it's all about the SON. The light of the world is the life of men. God isn't trying to make this hard. He's not the God of confusion. I'm telling you, it's vast... but it's simple. Love. Period. That's the Word of God. That's who Jesus was (and is in us). He's the Word made flesh. God in the flesh. Love in a body. And becuse of that light of revelation--because God has chosen to reveal Himself to us and in us and through us and as us--we can focus on what's really important. We can, as Hebrews 12:1 says, "...lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easly beset us, and run with patience the race that is set before us." We can lay aside unbelief, because now we have something (love), someONE (Jesus), to believe in! And we can run the race because the signposts are clear and the right road, or Way--the Highway of Holiness that IS Jesus--has been revealed to us. Now check this out: The best part of this race... we've already in a sense completed it! We're already at the finish line. The work is finished. We don't run in order to get a prize. We run because we HAVE the prize. We ARE the prize! And that's the point. It's not about earning something from an angry taskmaster through our human effort. It's about receiving the gift of a heavenly Father who would rather die than be without us. You can't earn Daddy's love. And you don't have to. He always has and always will love you. And because of that great love He died so you could die and then rose again so you can live! He gave you His Spirit--which leads and guides us into all truth... the truth that we KNOW, but don't yet fully UNDERSTAND--so that we could receive His love. So that by receiving it we could release it. Or by releasing it, truly receive it. So that we could know and believe the love of Christ. So that we could lay aside all this other stuff and get to the point. God loves me and I love Him back by loving you. I love you because I am so full of His love that it just comes out naturally like a river of living water flowing out of my heart! We get stuck on a lot of things, but God (who IS love) is stuck on us!