To Be part 3
We want to be accepted, and loved. That, I believe, is the most basic human desire. The most basic human NEED. We NEED to be accepted, and loved. But that will never happen if we stay in the appearance realm. The world realm. Judging by appearance. Judging by what we see. "You lied to me so you're a liar." And isn't it funny that--generally speaking--we label people by their mistakes, but not by their successes? We never seem to notice somebody doing their job... until they don't do it. Like in the realm of "good and evil" (and, again, we need to understand that we are no longer in this realm, but I'm just making a point), evil is bigger and stronger than good. Or at the very least it's easier to see. But we HAVE to understand that good and evil were on the same tree. Jesus didn't come to make "evil" people "good." He came to make dead people alive. He came that we might have life, and that more abundantly. Which is why we have stopped eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, stopped operating in the appearance realm, and moved over to the Tree of Life. Jesus cursed the fig tree (the tree of knowledge of good and evil, or the tree of death) because it couldn't produce any fruit. That was the problem with the Law of Moses. It demanded perfection without being able to produce perfection. Now, in the New Covenant, we know our perfection comes from Him. We MARK the perfect man, because the end of that man is peace! And when we mark the perfect man, we do so by looking in the mirror. Because He lives in us. And you can't be any more perfect that the perfect One living in you. We know OURSLEVES that way... and we know EACH OTHER that way. "Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more" (2 Corinthians 5:16). And let me just say... THIS is why I don't believe we're supposed to "follow in Jesus' foot steps." We don't even know JESUS after the flesh. The last part of 1 John 4:17 says, "...as he is, so are we in this world." Not as He WAS. As He IS. And as He IS is seated at the right hand of the Father (in a posture of rest). As He IS is living inside us. And that's WHY we are as He is. Because He IS in us, and through us, and as us. So in order know others... accept and love others... it has to be the connection (of love) that is the Jesus in me connecting to the Jesus in others. And I don't care if they know He's in there or not. Because I know He's in there. And when I look with the eyes of the heart--not the appearance realm, but the eternal realm of the unseen--then I can see HIM in EVERYBODY. I always tell people, "If you want to have a friend you need to be a friend." If we want to be known as we truly are then we need to know others as THEY truly are. And that's the Kingdom economy. Forgive BECAUSE you are forgiven. Love one another AS Jesus loves you. Accept because you ARE accepted. Know because you ARE known. We don't know people after the flesh. Not even Jesus. Not who they act like. Not who Jesus WAS. Who they ARE. Who He IS. That's how we rest. We stop trying to be someone we're not and we stop expecting other people to be who they're not. We just be. And we just let others be. And we love with the love we are loved with!