The Three L's part 9
Walking in the light means you can see where you're going. Letting the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path. That way you can get to where you're supposed to be--to where God wants you to be. That's an important thing to understand: No matter what you think... God knows. He knows the end from the beginning. He has an expected end for you. And if you trust Him... He'll get you there. If you follow where He leads you'll get to where He knows you should be. Look at 1 john 1:7, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Living in the light means living in love. Having relationships with people. Because that's what love is--it ts the bond and the glue that brings us and keeps us together. Shining your light so that others can see it. Giving your love so that others can experience and enjoy it. Letting what's inside--the love that is inside--come out by knowing and believing that it's in there. That's what life is all about. And that's how we truly live. To live is to love and to love is to live. They aren't just connected, they are the same thing. You can't have one without the other and you can't do one without the other. It's all about love. Which means it's all about fellowship. Relationship. Seeing a need in someone and meeting that need. Giving what you've got because you know what you've got, and you know that people need what you've got. That's what this whole abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life is all about--receiving and releasing the love of God. Letting God love you and loving Him back by loving people. Receiving it and releasing it. Breathing it in and breathing it out. Walking in the light of God's love. Letting it shine on you, and in you, and through you, and out of you, and as you. Experiencing love by giving it away. Because love is giving. You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. Building those relationships not based on what you can get... but on what you can give. I remember a time when I was trying to teach my son that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. And he looked at me, stupified, and said, "Why in the world would you want to catch flies????" But the principle is sound. It is the GOODNESS of God that leads men to repentance, not the scariness of God. It is love that brings people together. Love is the solid Rock on which we stand. Love is the foundation on which we build. Living in the light is loving people. Letting God love us and loving Him back by loving people. That's the key to life. The secret of life. That's what life is all about because that's what life is. "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" (1 John 3:16). He filled us with His light. That's why, and how, we can shine. He laid His life down for us. That's why, and how, we can lay our lives down for each other. It's simply receiving and releasing. Letting God do what He's of a mind to do... in us, and through us, and as us. Jesus said there is no greater love than laying your life down for your friends. And gues what else: That's how you MAKE friends. Not by taking, but by giving. If you lay your life down for someone, it's really hard for them to not like you. If you love someone, it's really hard for them to not fellowship with you. So live in the light. As God is in the light. Love as you are loved. Let what's inside come out by knowing and believing that it's in there. Be who you were created to be. Be love. And live your life in the light!