Trees of Righteousness part 3
Law of first mention. God is talking to Abram and then this happened. "And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6). Our right standng with God comes from our faith in God. Believing Him. Believing IN Him. Jesus said it in Mark 11:22, "...Have faith in God." Which, of course, means have faith in love. Because God is love. When you're in right standing with God, that means you know and believe that you are loved by God. That's what it means to have faith--it means you believe the truth. The ultimate truth of the universe is, "God is love and He loves you." That is the good ground that we are planted on. That is how we grow from the incorruptible seed to the tree of righteousness. And when we receive that truth... we can release that truth. When we know and believe we are loved, we can love. That's when, and how, and why, the tree that we are bears fruit. The fruit of the Spirit. Which is love. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. We are connected to Him because He has planted Himself in us. And we simply bear the fruit that He produces. We simply release what we have received. We release it BY receiving it. We receive it by releasing it. And it's all for God's glory. When you love someone, you are showing them God. Again, because God is love. They may not know it, and they may not understand it the same way you do, but when they receive your love they are receiving God. Some of the best conversations I've ever had about Jesus didn't mention His name one time. Because they were conversations about life and love. Living and loving. That's what we were created to do. And those two things are not just connected, they are the same thing. To live is to love and to love is to live. And all we have to do is believe. Jesus made the Way of Grace. And we respond with the Walk of Faith. Walking by faith and not by sight. The just will live by faith. Righteousness is prosperous and just, right? And when you believe, it is counted to you as righteousness. All you have to do is know and believe. And I put it in that order because I believe that is the Divine Order of things. You can't believe what you don't know. Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) of God. Just like you can't give what you don't have. You have to know that God loves you before you can believe it. Faith isn't hoping that something will happen, or hoping that something is true. Faith is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for. The EVIDENCE of things not seen. God proves His love to us, and then we believe it. He gives us what we need. When people in the Bible asked God for signs, He never had a problem giving them. He's not afraid to show us who He is. He's not afraid to prove Himself. Let God by true and every man a liar. He planted us, and He wants us to grow. That's why He takes care of us. He waters us. Prunes us. And the better we look, the better He looks. As He is, so are we in this world. We are the Son(s) of God, but we don't know what that looks like all the time. But when we appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is. When we are like Him, others will see Him as He is. In us. We are the spout where the glory comes out. When God looks at you He sees Jesus, and when He looks at Jesus He sees you. When people look at you they can (and will, and should) see Jesus too. What you believe is inside will come out. When you believe that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, Christ in you the hope of glory will come out!