Unlimited part 3
I think most of us (who believe in God) agree that God is all-powerful. But I think there are two very important parts of that truth that we sometimes miss: 1. If God is all-powerful, and God is love, that means love is all-powerful. And 2. All-powerful doesn't mean most powerful. It means ALL of the power. I debated a little bit before deciding to quote this verse, Acts 4:12, because "salvation" can be a tricky subject. But it gets across what I'm trying to get across regardless. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." For the record, "salvation" here is 4991 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "rescue or safety." Which is my point. We're safe when we love. It's not scary. There is no fear in love because perfect love casts out all fear. We don't have to worry about losing what we've got---because we're SHARING it when we give it away--and we don't have to worry about how other people will respond to our love. God's Word (and, really, He only has one Word. Jesus. Love.) does not fall void. It prospers in what it has set out to do. Which was to prosper us. That's the thought in the mind of Christ. "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end" (Jeremiah 29:11). And that expected end was the cross. The end of the old and the beginning of the new. The end of religion and the beginning of relationship. The end of works and labor and the beginning of rest. The end of trying to get, get, get because you're afraid you'll run out... and the beginning of unlimited. Abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life... a life overflowing with love... has not limits. Because love is all-powerful. There is no other name. No other word. No other anything. On the cross, at the Messianic rebirth of the world, Jesus (the consuming fire) burned away everything except Himself. And that's what's left: Jesus. One New Man. And we are all parts of that body of Christ. We have been reconciled to God. He never left us nor forsook us, but He let us try it our way. Then, at the appointed time, Jesus was lifted up from the earth on the cross and He drew us all into Himself. He showed us a more excellent way by spreading His arms wide and wrapping us in a loving embrace. So that we could stop being afraid of an angry, vengeful God--which is how we saw Him but isn't how He ever was--and we could turn to a loving heavenly Father. We could stop running FROM Him and start running TO Him. We could stop trying to earn something that is freely given and we could start to enjoy that gift. Stop trying to take the Kingdom of God (Kingdom of Love) by the violence of human effort and start to see that we've already arrived. We are WHO we need to be, we are WHERE we need to be, and--as we let Daddy love us, and then love others with that same love--we are doing what we were created to do. Remember yesterday we saw that the power that works within us is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we could ask or think? That's love! Love is what's in us! And it's bigger, and more unlimited, than we could even imagine. It's too big to contain. To powerful to keep to ourselves. It fills us to overflowing and comes out naturally, getting all over everybody we come into contact with. Love is THE power. And there is nothing that compares to it. To Him!