Unforced part 4
You can't force it. The Kingdom, the Promised Land, rest, our abode, love... is not something that can be earned. The biggest and first lie ever told was that you have to DO in order to BE. Eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil THEN you'll be like God. WRONG! We were made in His image. We didn't need to do anything to be like Him. What we needed was to KNOW who He is, and in so doing know who WE are. That's why Romans chapter 8 verse 29 is so important. Speaking of the cross Paul writes, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." See, we were MADE in His image, but we didn't know what that image was. Not until Jesus came and showed us. He showed us the Father. He showed us what it means to be the Son. He CONFORMED us to the image that we were made it. He shined His light and showed us how things really are. He shined His light and showed us that the work is finished. That it was finished from the foundation of the world. That He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world! The work is finished. And Jesus did it both for us and as us. He did the work so that we could stop trying in vain. So that we could stop trying to take the Kingdom by force. So that we could rest. And here's the best part: He didn't just finish the work and then leave us to rest if we could somehow figure it all out ourselves. See, He didn't just give His life FOR us, He gave His life TO us. He died and then rose back up from the grave. He invited us to come away with Him and LEARN how to rest. LEARN what it means to be loved, and to love with that same love. He made abundant life available to us, and He stands at the door and knocks, just waiting for us to invite Him in so He can sup with us. So He can spend time with us. Have a relationship with us. That's all a Father really wants FROM His Son. To spend time with Him. And on the flip side a Father wants the very best FOR His Son. He wants to provide for Him, and take care of Him. He wants His Son to be able to enjoy the life that He has given Him. But when we try to earn what is freely given--what can only be received--we rob ourselves from experiencing it. We miss out on what is available to us by trying to MAKE it happen. By trying to force it. You can't force it. It has to flow. It's the river of life and you can either try to swim up stream, or you can let it carry you wherever it wants you to go. You can try to be like Jesus, or you can let Him be Himself in you and as you and through you. And the difference is faith. Either you believe the work is finished--because you've seen how it got finished--or you try to finish it yourself. One way works and the other doesn't. Works don't work. Earning and gift doesn't work. But learning of Jesus--learning who you really are, who you are in Him and who He is in you--that's where true rest comes from. True life. True love!