Truth part 4
God is love and He loves you. That's the truth of the matter. That's as simple as I can make it. And simplicity is important. Because any time we make things too complicated, the truth gets lost. Look at 2 Corinthians 11:3, "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." Its so easy to get things twisted. To focus on things that really aren't important. To give power to things that really have no power at all. Its so easy to believe the lie, especially when you hear it over and over and over again. And that's what the world does: It screams the lie at the top of its lungs. Just like when the serpent hissed in Eve's ear. "You're not good enough. But if you do this, this, and this... someday you might just become what you want to be." And here's the most tragic part: the church world, in large part, has adopted this lie as its own personal truth. Man-centered, performance-based religion that tries to get you to do in order to be. Guys. We don't do in order to be. We do BECAUSE we be. What's inside is what comes out. Always. Or, I should say, what you BELIEVE is inside always comes out. Hurting people hurt people. But loved people love people. Knowing and believing the truth is the only way to truly live. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. You can't have one without the other. You can't do one without the other. They are the same thing. So when I said "God is love and He loves you" I could have just as easily said, "God is life and He lives in you." And when you know He is living IN you, that's when you can live IN Him! Dwelling in love is how we dwell in God, right? Not dwelling ON it, as if its something we don't have but wish we did, but dwelling IN it. Because it (HE) is what we DO have. It (HE) is who we are! That's the truth. We don't need to do anything in order to be like God. We were created in His image. And then on the cross we were conformed to the image of His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. So that we might know who we are. And in knowing, believe it. And in believing it... BE IT. You can't believe what you don't know. But WHEN you know... that's when the rubber meets the road. Let me say it like this, simply, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:1-2). And this appearing... I believe that's God appearing to us, and in us, and through us. I believe that happens when the Word is made flesh. When love as an idea becomes charity--love in action. When someone loves us, and when we love each other. That's the truth. That's how simple it is. That's when we know who we really are. Because that IS who we really are. That's why we were created. To be loved, and to love each other. God is love and He loves you. God is love... and He loves THROUGH you!