The Risen Lord part 5
Jesus is risen from the dead. He is the risen Lord. And since His death was our death, His Resurrection Life is OUR life! We don't try to live Jesus' life--nobody can live His life except Him--but we EXPERIENCE His life as He live it in us, and through us, and as us. And I think that's the key to rest. I'm not trying to act like Jesus. At best, all that will ever be is an act. I'm simply presenting my body as a living sacrifice and letting Him live His own life in my body. And did you catch that? The sacrifice God wants from us is not death. It's LIFE. We present our bodies as a LIVING sacrifice. We let Jesus LIVE through us even as we LIVE through Him! It's all about love. Which means it's all about life. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. That's why Jesus died--so He could rise again. He laid His life down so He could pick it back up. He gave His life for us, and He gave His life TO us. So we could partake of the Divine Nature. So we could receive and release the gift of God, which is eternal life, which is knowing the Father in the context of being His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. That's the ultimate truth of the universe that the Holy Spirit--our love receptor, the Spirit of truth--leads and guides us into: The ultimate truth that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. That as He is, so are we in this world. We don't have to try to act like Him, or be like Him, because we are already like Him! We were created in His image. But before the cross we didn't know what that image was. So we asked for an external Law and tried to live up to that perfect standard. But we couldn't. Not by might, nor by power. As hard as we tried there was always one thing we lacked. Because we were trying to earn something that can't be earned. We were trying to earn something that is freely given, and we were robbing ourselves from experiencing and enjoying that glorious gift! Then Jesus came. To show us the Father. Not an angry, distant taskmaster of a God, but the FATHER. He came that we might have LIFE, and have it more abundantly. And what makes life abundant? LOVE. But don't get it mixed up: Jesus didn't come so God could love us. God already loved us. Always has and always will. Jesus came so that we might KNOW and BELIEVE that God loves us! And He did that by dying--so that sin and death might die--and rising again--so that we might walk in newness of life. He did that by filling us (to overflowing) with His Spirit. He did that by defeating the lie... by showing us the truth! Jesus said the greatest love a man can have is to lay down his life for his friends. And then He went to the cross and did that very thing. He proved His love for us in that when we were yet sinners He died for us. And then He rose again. He drew us into Himself and died. So that we could die, and the old could pass away. And then He rose again so that we could live--truly live a life of love--and the new could come forth!