Ultimate Truth part 1
I was perusing the Bible today, as I often do, thinking about what I was going to Rant about. Because sometimes when I finish a Rant series it rolls into the next one, and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I need to be still and know that He is God. Let HIM say what He wants to say. And sometimes it goes in unexpected directions. I don't really plan it out, in other words. Anyway, what I came across was 2 John 1:1-2, "The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth. For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever." And what struck me was "Whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth." The truth--the ultimate truth of the universe--as simply as I can put it, is "God is love and He loves you." That's the standard. The foundation. That's the Rock on which we stand and the block on which we build. So saying, "whom I love in the truth" is almost redundant. Whom I love in the love. But its not redundant. Its so necessary. So vitally important. Because we can't give what we don't have. And we can only give what we do have. Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God. Which is Jesus. Which is love. We love because God first loved us. He gave us what we needed. That's the New Commandment--love one another AS Jesus loves us. So it flows from the Father. He is the source. We love in the truth... because love IS the truth. God is love, right? And Jesus said He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, right? So LOVE is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. To live is to love and to love is to live. They aren't just connected, they are the same thing. And that life of love is the truth. Jesus is the Way to the Father, the Truth about the Father, and the Life of the Father. Jesus is the Way to love, the Truth about love, and the Life of love! When you know the truth you can't help BUT love. Because the truth IS love. Not only I, but also all they that have known the truth. The truth sets you free and makes you free. Free FROM sin, yes. But also free TO love. Sin shoouldn't be the focus. We shouldn't be on a sin hunt. Sin is unbelief, and Jesus is the Lamb of God that took away the sin of the world. He took away the unbelief of the world. The belief that we have to earn God's love. Jesus took that away by giving us something (someONE, Himself, love) to believe in. He gave us faith by telling us He loves us. By SHOWING us He loves us. By laying His life down for us. By showing us the Father. Jesus told Phillip, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." Which, of course, begs the question, "What did Phillip see?" He saw Jesus. A man who loved people. That's who Jesus is: God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. That's the truth of who God is, and that's the truth of who we are. When He appears (to us, and in us, and through us, and as us) we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is. And seeing is believing. When we see love... we be love. When we know the truth we can't help but love in the truth. Because, one more time, love IS the truth!