Upward and Godward part 4
Upward and Godward is actually INWARD. It is the never-ending life-long journey into the heart of the matter. And the heart of the matter... is the heart. God's heart beating with love in our chests. It's the realization--just like in the Wizard of Oz--that we already have everything we need. We ARE complete in Him. Seeking the Kingdom (first and foremost, as a priority) is not about finding something you don't have. Rest is not about getting what you lack. It's about exploring what you do have. It's about living out of the abundance that God has given you. And, for the record, what makes the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God (which IS the gift of God) abundant... is love. It's all about love. "Upward and Godward" really means "inward and loveward." Because that's where love is. It (HE) is inside us. Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. And when we go inward--when we "find" what we've been looking for at the source--it comes out. Naturally. All on it's own. Because it's too good and too big to keep in. Even if we tried. Which, when we start to understand, and quite honestly be overwhelmed, by God's love we won't WANT to keep it in. There's a song lyric that says, "What you got if you ain't got love? The kind that you just want to give away..." And that's what love is all about. Receiving and RELEASING. Because love IS giving. You can give without loving, right? But you can't love without giving. Giving everything you have and everything you are. Gladly. Laying your life down for your friends. And destroying your enemies by MAKING them your friends. Heaping coals of fire on people's heads, not to burn them or hurt them, but to melt their hearts. Guys... God is love. Upward and Godward is simply another way of saying, "That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God" (Ephesians 3:16-19). Again, we're not trying to get God to love us. That's not what it means to go upward and Godward. It's not about getting something you haven't got. It's about understanding, and experiencing, what you HAVE got. God has already blessed us with all Spiritual blessings. He has already given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. I already said this but we are COMPLETE in Him. We can't get any closer to God than having Him live inside us. We can't get anymore perfect than having the perfect One living in us, and through us, and as us. The point is not to get "more." Or "better." I don't believe in "good" Christians or "bad" Christians. I believe we're all Christ-like because when He came to earth to show us the Father He showed us ourselves. A man, just like you and me, filled with the Holy Spirit, who loved people. That's what divinity is all about. Being God-like. And that's who we already are. As He is, so are we in this world. This journey is simply about God revealing Himself to us, and in us, and through us, so that we might KNOW how He is, and KNOW how we are! And we see this most clearly when we look in the mirror, and when we look INTO each other. The Christ in you connected to the Christ in me. We go "up" by going IN!