You're Dead part 5
We are dead... BUT... our life is hid in God with Christ. So while we are dead to everything that came before (the cross, or our knowledge and acceptance of the finished work of the cross) we can live. But the key is finding what has been hidden. Look at Proverbs 25:2, "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter." He hid our life. We need to find it. And the key, of course, is WHERE He hid it. He hid it in Himself. He hid it in love. So in order to find something that is hidden in love... that's where we have to look. Now, don't get it twisted, I'm NOT talking about looking FOR love. I think we spend (waste) our three T's--time, talent, treasure--looking for love in all the wrong places. Trying to earn something that can't be earned. Trying to get something we've already got. Seeking the Kingdom isn't about seeking in order to find something that we're missing. Seeking the Kingdom is about exploring where we are. Exploring what's available to us. Pluming the height, and depth, and length, and breadth of God's love for us. And since love is giving, we explore that love... by loving each other. Bigger and harder than we ever thought we could. Giving what we've got by knowing and believing that we've got it. So rather than looking for love in all the wrong places, we need to go to the source. The God who IS love. And He lives in us. We live in Him. We're always trying to turn over a new leaf, or be someone we're not. When in truth, we simply need to understand and accept who we really are. Looking for our lives means looking in love. Looking AT love. Looking in the mirror and seeing our true selves. Seeing Jesus. Because that's who we really are; Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. I'm telling you, if you're always struggling to be someone you're not, you're never going to feel comfortable with who you are. If you're always trying to fit into a box you'll never be able to spread your wings and fly. If I can mix my metaphors. So looking for your life is all about looking inside. Looking in your heart. Doing whatever you do simply and only because its in your heart to do it. Not because you feel obligated, or because you think you're "supposed to." Not because you feel guilty. Do whatever you do heartily unto the Lord. Do it because its in your heart to do it. When you're looking for your life... you find it in your heart. In those things that make you... you. Don't hate on those things, or deny those things. I'm a writer. I feel most like ME when I'm putting words on a page. So rather than denying that... I just do it unto the Lord. I do it to glorify Him. I find my life in my heart. Because its hidden in God. And God is love. I think the song lyric says, "You are what you love, not who loves you." What's inside coming out. Not trying to get something, but giving what you've got. Giving who you are. That's what love is--giving everything you have and everything you are. So when you're looking for it, you have to find it inside... and let it out. That's what life is all about--receiving and releasing the gift of God. Which is His love. His life. You're dead. But in Him... you can live!