To Be part 4
In order to HAVE a friend, you have to BE a friend. In order to forgive, you have to know that you ARE forgiven. In order to love you have to know (and believe) that you ARE loved. This is such an important concept. We don't DO in order to BE. We do BECAUSE we be. We want to be known. We want to be accepted. We want to be loved. (And in Jesus we find that we ARE all of those things.) But in order to have that relationship with other people it's critical that we KNOW, and ACCEPT, and LOVE others. Know as we are known. Accept as we are accepted. Love as we are loved. Let me say it another way. The only chance you and I truly have of lining up with each other is if we both line up with Jesus--with love. Because then, instead of judging by appearance and trying to be someone we're not, instead of conforming to this world, we will automatically line up with each other. Naturally. The Jesus in me connecting to the Jesus in you. Surface stuff isn't real. It's the unseen that is eternal. The inner man. The hidden man of the heart. But there's only one way (Jesus, THE Way) to truly connect Spirit to Spirit, holy to holy. And that's by knowing no man after the flesh. Look at Revelation 11:1-2 in the Weymouth translation, "Then a reed was given me to serve as a measuring rod: and a voice said, "Rise, and measure God's sanctuary--and the altar--and count the worshipers who are in it. But as for the court which is outside the sanctuary, pass it over. Do not measure it..." Jesus is the reed. He is our measuring stick. And NOT in the sense of trying to live up to His "standard." That was the trap of the Law of Moses. The Law demanded perfection but couldn't produce it. Jesus IS our perfection. WE are God's sanctuary. WE are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We measure ourselves BY Him. What's true about Jesus is true about you. And we DON'T measure the outer court. The outer man. We DON'T judge by appearance, but we judge righteous judgment. We don't TRY to be perfect. We simply mark the perfect man. Because the end of THAT man is peace. The thoughts that God thinks toward us are thoughts of peace and not of evil. Daddy thinks you're perfect! And His opinion is the one that really matters. Because His opinion is the truth (Jesus, THE Truth). So we don't worry about external stuff. Ours or other people's. We don't know each other after the flesh. We don't measure the outer court. Actions don't define you. Jesus defines you. The only reason our actions seem messed up is because we don't know and believe that the work is finished. If you're trying to finish a finished work then you're robbing yourself from resting. Robbing yourself from the gift of eternal life (Jesus, THE Life) that was freely given by trying to earn it. Robbing yourself of BEING by trying to DO. Sometimes I think we try way too hard to GET people to like us. Love is isn't about getting. Love is giving. Don't worry about what other people think, or what other people are doing. Just focus on how GOD--who IS love--loves you and then BE that. Because just as He loves because He IS love... WE love because we ARE love. Love isn't just what you do. Love is what (WHO) you be! It's your nature. And when you understand that, you don't have to TRY to love. You just do it naturally. You love because you ARE loved, and you love because you are LOVE!