The Word of Life part 5
What's inside comes out. Because it's too big to contain. But the key is KNOWING and BELIEVING that it's in there. That's what faith is, and that's why faith is so important. But watch this: Faith works by love (Galatians 5:6). And watch this: "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). You hear about God's love, and your faith explodes. Because when you hear about God's love, you have something to believe in. You know it, and you believe, and then it comes out naturally. You hear the Word of life (Jesus, love) and then you walk in newness of life. You walk by faith and not by sight! And this is so powerful: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). See, we hear the Word of life. We know it and we believe it. We behold it. And what we behold, is what we become. Because the Word isn't just a Word. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And then on the cross it went even further than that. More than just dwelling AMONG us the Word took up abode (or dwelling) INSIDE us. Grace and truth, goodness and mercy, don't just FOLLOW us all the days of our life... they (HE, Jesus) live in us! And if the Word of life is living in you... that equips and empowers you to truly live. Not just "life" but abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life. I'll say it again: Newness of life. Why? Because God spoke and said, "Let there be light." He showed us who we really are by showing us who He really is. He showed us that we are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased by showing us that He is our heavenly Father and by giving His life for us and giving His life to us. By showing us that He's not mad AT us, but mad ABOUT us. By showing us that He would rather DIE than live without us. He laid His life down so that He could pick it up again. So that we could have something better than we even knew was possible. Ephesians 3:20 says it like this, "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." Before the cross we were trying to do the best we could with what we had. The problem is that we didn't know what we had. We didn't think we had anything except human effort. So that's what we tried to use to get the desire of our heart. But here's the thing about love--you can't earn it. It's a free gift. It has to be received. And that's what the Holy Spirit is all about. The Holy Spirit is our love receptor. It (HE) leads and guides us into all truth. It (HE) testifies of our true identity by testifying of Jesus. It (HE) tells us who we really are by telling us who Jesus really is. By revealing the unconditional love relationship of the Father and the Son. THAT'S the Word of life. That's what God says. That's who Jesus is. And, because as He is, so are we in this world, that's who WE are. He IS our true identity. We're here to live. And by that I mean we're here to love. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. It's the same thing. The Word of life is the Word of Love. It's the Word of God because God IS love. He wanted us to live. To be loved and to love each other. So He gave us life. He gave us love. He gave us Himself. So that we might know and believe that love lives in our hearts. And since it's in there, it can't do anything but come out all on it's own!