What Manner part 4
Its hard to understand love sometimes. And I think the best way to just lay it out there is by quoting something I read the other day, "People DO love you, your brain is just mean." Struck a chord with me. Because the thing of it is... we're with ourselves all the time. We know the worst things we've done, because we were right there. Doing it. And that gives us a lot of ammo to disqualify ourselves from the thing we want above all things. We very easily convince ourselves that we don't deserve it. And then there's the world, that has a way of trying to make us jump through hoops in order to earn it. When the truth of the matter is, you can't earn love. It is freely given, or it isn't love. So it must be received. And that's what the Holy Spirit is all about--He is our love receptor. He is the Spirit of Truth that leads and guides us into all truth. The truth that God is love and He loves you. The truth that God is your heavenly Father and you are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Because that's HOW the Holy Spirit leads and guides us into all truth; with the revelation of Jesus. The Holy Spirit testifies of our true identity by testifying of Jesus. Showing us who we are in Christ by showing us who Christ is in us. Who LOVE is in us. I just did a Guerrila Gospel video last night about the appearance of love. About how when Jesus appears--in us, and through us, and as us--LOVE appears. In us. And through us. And as us. You can't give what you don't have, right? And you can only give what you do have. We love, because He first loved us. He gave us something. And we simply receive it and release it. Receive it BY releasing it. We simply--and I say "simply" not "easily"--know it and believe it. Sometimes its hard to believe. I agree with you. Sometimes love--especially the unconditional, self-sacrificing, agape love of God--seems too good to be true. But in reality it is so good that is must be true. It IS the truth. And the way. And the life. So when we question it, the question cannot be "He loves me... He loves me not." God's love for us is eternal. It never wavers. The question must be, "what manner of love is this?" And from there we can dive into the height, and length, and depth, and breadth of His love. Once we start with the ultimate truth of the universe--God is love and He loves you--then we can begin to understand it. But let me just throw this out there: Ephesians 3:19 (NLT), "May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God." The journey into the heart of the matter, which is God's heart beating with love in your chest, is a never-ending life-long journey. We will never completely understand it. But we can grow in it. We can see it if we look for it. We can experience it by giving it away. And experiencing something is better than understanding it anyway. "That felt awesome!" "Why? What happened?" "I don't know. But it doesn't matter. Because it was awesome!" What manner of love does the Father have for us? That's why we're here; to let HIM answer that question. Every day. In every way. To let HIM love us and to love Him back by loving each other. Like I said, pretty simple.