The Truth part 5
If all you have is a lie... that's what you'll believe. You can't give what you don't have, and you can only give what you do have. That's why the Truth (which is Jesus, which is love) is so important. Knowing and believing that we are loved is what equips and empowers us TO love. Knowing and believing the truth is what allows us to ignore the lie. The lie that says we have to do in order to be. When the truth is, we don't do in order to be... we do because we be! What's inside comes out. Or, I should say, what you believe is inside comes out. Belief is so important. Faith is so important. What we do flows from what we believe, whether its the Truth or a lie. Did you catch that? THE Truth, singular. Or A lie. Because while love comes in many shapes and sizes, love is the Truth. Period. One Truth. The ultimate Truth of the universe: God is love and He loves you. "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand" (John 3:35). Once we get that settled, it doesn't matter what lie the world throws at us. "You're not good enough." "You have to earn your bread by the sweat of your brow." "Jump through these hoops and then you can have what you want." "You don't deserve it." Lies. All lies. Defeated by the Truth that (one more time) God is love and He loves you. I'm convinced that when we stop trying to get something we've already got--robbing ourselves of enjoying the gift of God that we've already been given--we will begin to share what we've got. We will stop chasing it when we start receiving it and releasing it. Receiving it BY releasing it. Releasing it by receiving it. Filling ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with. Letting the love (the river of life) flow out of our innermost being. Out of our hearts. Out of GOD'S heart beating with love in our chests. When David asked God to create in him a clean heart and a new spirit... God did so on the cross. When He gave us His only begotten Son. When He gave us Himself. HIS Spirit--the love receptor, the Spirit of Truth that leads and guides us into all truth. HIS heart. How could the blood of Jesus flow through our veins if the heart of God wasn't pumping it? That's the truth of the matter: We are who we need to be and we have what we need to have. The lie is that we are lacking something. The lie is that we need to do something. Jesus finished the work. He did it all so we could get it all. And now we have it all. Now we can give it all. Because the greatest expression of love that a man can have is to lay his life down for His friends. To give everything he is and everything he has. But in order to do that you need to know who you are. You need to know what you have. The Truth HAS set you free and made you free. But you have to KNOW that truth in order to believe it. In order to BE what you are... which, again, is free. Free from the lie. Free from the bondage of sin and death. Free to live. Free to love. Living BY loving. Loving IS living. They aren't just connected, they are the same thing. You can't have one without the other. Can't do one without the other. So share the love. Spread the truth. Break chains that hold people in bondage. Be a witness FOR God by being a witness TO God. Let Him love you, and love others with that same love. Give them what they need. Show them a more excellent way. A life of service is the only life worth living... and that's the truth.