Waketh part 4
Sleep is death. And that is completely different than rest. Because rest is how we live. We are awake, but we are NOT running around like chickens with our heads cut off. We are NOT trying to earn something that can't be earned. We are NOT trying to earn our bread by the sweat of our brow. Jesus is the bread of life, and He gave Himself to us freely. His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life is the GIFT of God. And you can't earn a gift. That's when we get into trouble, and that's what I call sleep walking. We fall into the trap of the world that says, "You have to do in order to be." Even religion will tell you that you have to fit in a box in order to get what God has coming for you. Nonsense. Everything God has for us... He gave to us on the cross. When He gave us His only begotten Son. When He gave us His Spirit. When He gave us Himself. Jesus didn't just give His life FOR us, He gave His life TO us. Because He wanted us to have it. And now we DO have it. We've had it for 2,000 years. And, really, the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. What we needed was a realization of who He is. A realization of who We are. What we have. And what we can do with what we have. What we needed was a wake up call. And, one more time, that's what the cross was! The light of the world shined... revealing that WE are the light of the world! Jesus showed us who we really are by showing us who God really is. Jesus--God in the flesh, love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. That's what awaking to righteousness (and sinning not) is all about. Its about awaking to love. To the ultimate truth of the universe that says God is love and He loves you. Because even when we slept--before the cross, when we were dead in our trespasses and sins--our heart was awake. Love is the desire of the heart. What else could it be? And we've always yearned for it. NEEDED it. But, before the cross, we never thought we deserved it. Never thought we were good enough. We disqualified ourselves, buying into the sleep of death. I mean, even to the point where--and I've heard people say this, and it breaks my heart--we get the mindset of, "I'm on the highway to hell anyway, so I might as well just give up." Like I said: Heartbreaking. We've turned the God who IS love into a mean old man who punishes people for their mistakes. Can't we just learn from our mistakes and move one? Upward and onward. Upward and GOD-ward! Can't we just stop trying to be someone we're not, and wake up to who we are? Embrace who we are? BE who we are? God created you to be... you! He loves you just the way you are. He doesn't want you to be someone else. He wants you to be who you are. Who you REALLY are. Who you are in Christ. Which is who Christ is in you. So wake up. Your heart has been awake, just waiting for the rest of you. And now, through the Holy Spirit--the Spirit of Truth that leads and guides us into all truth--we CAN catch up. We CAN wake up. We can receive and release the love of God. We can let God love us, and we can love Him back by loving each other. And in that way we can truly live a life of love!