Understanding part 2
"I understand." Besides, "I love you," I can't think of a more important phrase in the English language. (Maybe "I AM") But really I'm just saying the same thing over and over. Because love comes from understanding. Love comes from acceptance. And you can't accept something you don't understand. You can't love something you don't accept. Isn't it funny that we share this "human experience" but we always seem to feel so isolated and alone? We always feel like nobody could possibly understand what we've been through or what we're going through. All of the "bad stuff" we've done? How could anybody understand? How could anybody love someone like me? But that right there is the key to God's love. He doesn't love us because of what we've done (or what we're doing right now, or what we're going to do). He loves us for who we are, and who He is! 1 John 4:19 in the NLT says it like this, "We love each other because he loved us first." Love comes from the source. From the God who IS love. It comes from the heart. And as we saw yesterday, that's where understanding comes from too. You hear (the Word, which is Jesus, which is love) with the ear and you understand with the heart. I'm convinced that there is no greater--no OTHER--desire in the human heart than to be loved. To be accepted for who we are. To be understood wholly and completely. If you're anything like me you're sick and tired of hiding who you really are. Trying to be someone you're not in order to be accepted. Trying to fit into a box that even the people you're trying to impress don't fit into. It's a struggle. It's exhausting. And it never gets you what you want. The only way to "get" the desire of your heart is to delight yourself in the Lord. Because He IS the desire of your heart. And He has already given Himself to you. So rather than trying to get something you (think you) don't have by being someone you're not... Jesus finished the work and moved us into a dimension of rest. He did all the work and we get to enjoy the fruit of His labor. The fruit of the Spirit. Which is love. We get to experience love because we have the Holy Spirit--the love receptor. The Spirit of truth that leads and guides us into all truth. Because, according to 1 John 2:20, "...ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." It's not about getting knowledge. It's about getting understanding. That's where I ended yesterday's Rant, "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding" (Proverbs 4:7). But here's the key: It's not about "getting" something you don't have. We already have it all. Look at 2 Timothy 2:7, "Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things." Old Testament--GET understanding. New Testament--the Lord has GIVEN you understanding in all things. We know all things, and when we look through the eyes of grace we understand all things. We understand LOVE. We understand each other. I'll end with the verse I want to begin with tomorrow, "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life" (1 John 5:20). We know Him, we understand Him, because we're IN Him! We know love, we understand love, because we're IN love!