The Word of Life part 1
I know I mention this a lot, but I think about it a lot. I wonder about it a lot. Here's my question: What in the world are we talking about? We get so caught up in so many things that we miss out on what it's actually all about. And nowhere is this more prevalent than the "heaven or hell" religious mindset. We're so caught up in the afterlife that we miss out on the actual life. Jesus said it like this, "The thief cometh not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). Life. Abundant life. Everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life. That's the gift of God. That's what we've been given, and that's what we ought to be concerned with. And when you understand that an abudant life is simply a life full of love--when you understand that to live is to love and to love is to live--then you begin to see that it really is all about love. You begin to see that Jesus, the Word of God, IS love. God is love, right? So everything that comes from Him, or out of Him, is love. Right? So when we use "the word of God" to condemn people we've really missed the point. Look at 1 John 1:1 in the NLT. This is my key verse for this Rant series. "We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life." The Word of life. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE. The only Word that God has is love. In the beginning, when God spoke into the dark, formless, void, He said, "Let there be light." He shined the light of the world into our hearts in order to--in a sense--GIVE us form. To show us what we look like by showing us what HE looks like. To give us life by giving His life for us, and giving His life TO us. And I'm convinced that every time God spoke, every time He speaks to this very day, He is saying the exact thing. Because notice this: It's not the words, plural, of God. It's the Word. Singular. The Word of life. Which is love. That's who Jesus is. He is God in the flesh. Love in a body. He is the visible face of the invisible God. And since He lives in us that means WE are the visible face of the invisible God. That means He came with the ministry--the word--of reconciliation, and He gave US the same ministry. Not so that we can tell people how bad they are and how much they need to be reconciled, but so that we can share the good news that we HAVE been reconciled! God was in Christ reconciling us to Himself 2,000 years ago on an old rugged cross. That doesn't need to happen. That's a done deal. A finished work. So when we speak the Word (of life) it's not about what we need to do. It's about what HE already did. It's about what's true right now. It's about the straight narrow way that HE made for us when He brought the mountains low and the valleys high. When HE made the crooked straight. It's about speaking life and watching it manifest. In earth as it is in heaven. The Kingdom came. It's here. And let me just ask this: If we have eternal life, why are so fixated on an "after" life? After what? Life is for living. That's what love is all about. That's whatt JESUS is all about. He isn't just the Word of GOD, He's the Word of life. The Word of love. (And yes, those ARE all the same thing). So when you speak... speak life. Let what's inside you overflow out of you. Talk about something worth talking about. L-O-V-E love!