We just get distracted. I think that's one of the biggest Spiritual problems in the world. We know the truth, and the truth has set us free, and made us free. But we don't act like we're free. We let things that don't have any power at all... have power over us. We get so caught up in what's going on around us, that we forget what (WHO) lives inside us. And then, because we're focused on what's without, we try to get things FROM without. Which is a problem because, as I always say, love is never about getting. Because love IS giving. And that's about as basic as it gets. Love is giving everything you have and everything you are. Love is giving your life for your friends. And as we approach the Christmas season, its so important that we have our priorties straight. Not getting. Giving. 'Tis the season of love. And by "season" I mean all of the time. Loving all people all of the time. That's what makes us truly alive. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. Love is what makes the abundant life of God abundant. So when we talk about living out of our abundance--if you have two coats, and you see someone without a coat, give them one of yours. See a need and meet it--when we talk about living out of our abundance, we are talking about living out of love. Giving what we've got instead of always trying to get something we haven't got. And isn't it ironic that we try to get what we (think we) haven't got by being someone that we're not? That's such a receipe for disaster. Because you are who you are. When the chips are down you do what its in your nature to do. We live from the inside out, whether we know it or not. What we believe is inside comes out. If we are hurt... we hurt people. If we are loved... we love people. But my point for today, as I wrap up this Rant series, is that its very important--vitally important--that we get back to basics. That we focus on what's really important. That we don't let ourselves get distracted. I'll do one memory verse to try to bring this thing home. "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2). And I think one of the most important words in that verse is "set." Its a conscious decision to major on the majors and minor on the minors. To make sure that we give importance to the right things. Because things are only important if you make them important. And, like I said at the beginning of this Rant, its easy to get distracted. To make mountains out of molehills. To give power to things that have no power. Because God is all powerful. Which means love is all powerful. Which doesn't mean "most" powerful. It means love has all of the power. Love IS all of the power. And nothing else matters. But don't get me wrong: What you love is what matters. Because by loving it you MAKE it matter. And I've always said there are only two important things in the world: God and people. Loving God and loving people. Loving God BY loving people. Letting God love us until that love overflows out of us like a river of living water. And that river quenches the thirst of anybody it comes close to. Because we all need love. And love is all we need. That's about as basic as it gets. We are loved. We can love. We ought to love. We ARE love! Focus on that, and everything else falls into place.

When you get right down to the basics the Gospel (the good news) goes like this: God loves you. So you can love people. To me, its that simple. And that really does make it simple. Love people. Not to get something, but because you have something. Because love is never about getting. Because love IS giving. Giving everything you have and everything you are without worrying about what comes next. Perfect love casts out fear, right? I think that's pretty basic. And since we are loved with a perfect love--by the God who IS love--we can forget about fear. We can cast our cares on Him, because He cares for us. We can live fearlessly. We can LOVE fearlessly. Which is what it means to truly live; to live is to love and to love is to live. They aren't just connected, they are the same thing. A life without love is a life not truly lived. That's why its not good for man to be alone. Because we need each other. We need to love each other, and be loved by each other. That's why we were created. The God who is love wanted to express Himself. He wanted something (someone, us) to love. And He didn't just want to express Himself TO us, He wanted to express Himself THROUGH us. He wanted to love us, and He wanted us to love Him back by loving each other. And, listen, that's not a selfish motivation. He didn't love us in order to get love from us. He doesn't need anything. The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. If He was hungry He woudn't tell us, because He owns the cattle on 100 hills. If He ever needed anything He would just take care of it Himself. And watch this: If WE ever need anything we can turn to Him, and trust Him to take care of it Himself. Not because He wants something FROM us, but because--as our loving heavenly Father--He wants everything FOR us. He wanted the best for us, so He gave the best TO us. He gave us His only begotten Son. So that we could be conformed into the image of His Son, and know that we ARE His Son. His beloved Son. In whom He is well pleased. That seems to be an idea that the church world doesn't really understand, but to me its about as basic as it gets. God is love and He loves you. What else do you need to know? Everything else builds and grows from there like a Holy Ghost wildfire that feeds on itself (HIMSELF) and consumes everything else in its (HIS) path. That's what love does. That's who love is. The Gardener that pruned every tree in the garden that didn't bear fruit. Washing us with the Word (which is Jesus, which is love), and presenting us to Himself as a bride without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing. Showing us how to love by showing us how we are loved. Showing us the Father, and showing us that we are the Son. By shining the light of the world. The light that shines on us, and in us, and through us. The light that He is. The light that we are. As much as I think about all this "theology" stuff (and I really do think about it just about all the time) I can't stop coming back to that one basic thought. The ultimate truth of the universe. God is love and He loves you. You are loved so you can love. You are loved so you are love!

Getting back to basics, for me, is kind of like the idea of centering yourself. Strengthening yourself in the Lord, if I can quote one of my favorite verses. Being still, and knowing that HE is God. That LOVE is God. Knowing that you don't have to do it all yourself, and you don't have to do it all... at all. Knowing that love will light the way. TRUSTING that love IS the answer, no matter what the problem is. Because sometimes it doesn't look like love will accomplish its (HIS) goal. You have to put your trust in GIVING, instead of GETTING. And watch this: "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11). God said His Word (which is Jesus, which is love) will accomplish what HE pleases. See, we use this idea of love sometimes because we think it will get something for us. "I'll scratch your back so that you'll scratch mine." But God showed His love for us by dying for us (and as us) when we had nothing to offer Him. When we were dead in our trespasses and sins He gave us life. HIS life. The abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God. Life of love. Because love is what makes life abundant. That's basic. That's a foundation stone. That's one to build on. Start with love and see what happens. Don't use love (or prayer) as a last resort. If you feel like you're down to your last resort... use love. Pray. But if you START with the good stuff, you might miss out on some of the bad stuff. You might not have to wander around in the wilderness for quite as long, if I can use one of my dad's favorite analogies. We can make things easier for ourselves... and for others... by getting back to basics. Letting go of some of the things that we probably didn't need in the first place, and certainly don't need to be holding onto. I love that picture of a hand holding a rope. And when it finally lets go you can see the rope burn the hand got by refusing to let go. Point being, sometimes we do more damage by holding on. Sometimes we think something is better than nothing. And that's why we're so eager to settle so much of the time. We think, "Well, it probably won't get any better, but hopefully it won't get any worse either." We try to maintain the status quo. But, while I'm ALL about letting people be who they are (instead of who we think they should be) and giving people space to learn and grow, there are some things we should not stand for. How's that old song go? "You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything." And its only by standing FOR the right thing--as opposed to standing AGAINST things--standing ON that Rock that supports us, that we CAN stand firm. If we're planted on the Rock we will not be shaken. So we need a strong foundation. We need the basics. And we need to, as I said before, major on the majors and minor on the minors. We need to focus on what's important and let the rest of it go. We need to stop running around like chickens with our heads cut off, looking for love in all the wrong places, and we need to be still and know that God is in control. We need to get back to basics.

Its easy to get lost. Especially when you're running around like a chicken with your head cut off, looking for love in all the wrong places. Its easy to lose sight of what's really important. Especially when the world is screaming at you at the top of its lungs, and the Word of the Lord (which is Jesus, which is love) speaks in a still, small voice. So what I find myself doing a lot--consciously, on purpose--is making sure I get back to basics. Making sure the things that I'm giving my three t's (time, talent, treasure) to are worthy of my effort. And when someone tells me--and this actually happened to me--that Jesus and my son are the only things I take seriously... I'm pretty ok with that. I would change it up a little bit now because its not just Logan and me anymore. I would say that Jesus and my family are the only things I take seriously. Because, to me, what else matters? One of the pastors at my old church would always say, "As long as we major on the majors and minor on the minors, we should be fine." And she meant that we could fellowship with people who don't believe exactly the same way we do. But I like to take it a step further (I know, I know, I always try to take it a step further) and say that we can find common ground with ANYBODY. In the "church world" or out of it. And I read somewhere that boys look for reasons to be friends, and girls look for reasons to be enemies. Now I'm not going to get into the difference between cats and dogs, but I am trying to say that you can usually find what you're looking for. Unless you're looking for love in all the wrong places. Because love comes from the source. From the God who IS love. But what I'm saying is, sometimes we get these preconceived notions in our heads. We write this narrative. We believe something that is completely untrue. And then we act accordingly. We burn bridges in order to protect ourselves from attacks that aren't even coming. We sabotage ourselves. We don't even give the truth a chance because we are too busy listening to (even the sense of fighting against) the lies of the world. "You're not good enough." So we don't even try. "Nobody loves you." So we don't love nobody. And that is what Jesus was talking about when He spoke of the thief and the robber who tries to get into the sheepfold any other way but through the door. Jesus is the door. Love is the door. So what we do is we rob OURSELVES of the gift we've been given. We miss out on what we've got because we're too busy trying to get something we think we haven't got. To me this is really basic: we have been given the gift of God. You can't earn a gift. You certainly can't earn a gift you've already been given. All you SHOULD do is receive it and release it. Receive it BY releasing it. Freely you have received, freely give. This gift is one to share. Its too good to keep to ourselves. And remember how I said if you believe that nobody loves you, then you won't (can't) love nobody? Well, in the same way, when you know (and believe) that you are loved... that's when (and how) you can love! Give what you've got by knowing what you've got. Share it. Give it away. And when you stop running--when you be still, and know that LOVE is God--that's when you find what you were looking for. That's when you find... yourself.

I like to get deep. Sometimes. With certain people. Because there are people in my life where I can send them a text with a memory verse and it'll be exactly what they need. And there are people in my life that I can talk about all of the crazy God stuff (LOVE stuff) that rattles around in my head most of the time. But those people are kind of few and far between. But for the most part, and the reason that my ministry is called Word Without Walls, I believe that people need a steady dose of the basics. The ultimate truth of the universe. "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand" (John 3:35). God is love and He loves you. And, somewhat unfortunately, that seems like a radical message. Because the idea of a wrathful, distant, angry God who is just waiting for you to mess up so He can strike you down is so prevalent in our society. When a "bad guy" dies and the outcry is, "He's finally in hell where he belongs!" And my first, last, and only thought is: Where is the love? I understand being sympathetic towards victims and their families. But love is all imcompassing. God sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. He drew ALL men into Himself when He was lifted up from the earth on the cross. God is love and He loves you. No matter who you are. No matter what you've done. Love is unconditional. It's God's nature. And at the end of the day, that's who you are. In sports they say you are who your record says you are. If you don't win enough games to make it into the playoffs, it doesn't matter how talented you think you are--you're not a playoff team. So, again, basics. Knowing who you are. So that you can stop trying to be someone you're not. No matter how hard you try, you'll never be able to be anybody other than who God created you to be. Because God created you to be... you. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Before you were even a gleam in your parents' eyes, God knew everything about you. And He loved you. You think there's so much wrong with you, but Jesus came to show you what's right with you. To show you the Father. To show you the Father's LOVE by showing you that you are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. To show you that you don't have to try to get anything, because your heavenly Father has already given you everything. He gave you His very life. His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life. A life of love. A life of being loved, and loving with that love. Letting God love you, and loving Him back by loving others. Receiving and releasing the gift you've been given. I feel like I only have one story to tell, and I'm just trying to find different ways to make it hit home. God is love. And He loves you. That's it. That's what it's all about. Love is all you need. And, when you know and believe that ultimate truth of the universe, you know that love is what you have. What you've always had. And that will set you free and make you free. That will light a fire in you, and that light WILL shine. But it begins with getting back to basics. That one fundamental thought. That foundation stone. That Rock that we stand on, and build on. God is love. And He loves you.

We've been talking about the attitude of gratitude, right? And about how when you give thanks for something you are blessing it. So let's finish this Rant series by taking it to the next level. 1 Thessalonians 5:18, "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." And notice that it doesn't say give thanks FOR all things. Even though we know all things work together for good. It says IN all things. Which to me means you can find something to be thankful for no matter what. Remember the other day when we talked about how its always darkest before the dawn? Even when it seems like everything is going wrong... every cloud has a silver lining. Its never as bad as you think it is. Because even in the beginning when it was dark, the Spirit of the Lord hovered over the face of the deep. In other words, God (LOVE) has sworn to never leave you nor forsake you. And for that we can give thanks. When we start looking for things to be grateful for, things to bless, the things that don't look so good don't seem to matter. And when we REALLY take it a step further we'll be able to follow Jesus' advice (or instructions) in John 7:24, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." We'll start walking by faith and not by sight. Because truth is higher than fact. And the fact of the matter might be that it doesn't look so good. But the truth of the matter is, God's got your back. He will carry you through. Which means LOVE will carry you through. And that right there is enough to be thankful for. Love will light the way. No matter how dark it may be. And when you LET love light the way, when you're thankful for what you've got instead of always focusing on what you haven't got, that's when people start getting blessed. Remember that story about--I think it was Peter, and I don't want to look it up right now--when Peter's shadow fell on a sick guy and immediately healed him? That's the kind of stuff that I absolutely believe we are capable of. And if you think that's extreme... fine. You have to at the very least admit that we are capable of laying our lives down for each other. Giving everything we have and everything we are. Because that's what love is. That's what we have. Letting what we have inside, come out, is how we experience this gift of God (eternal life, knowing the one true God and the One whom He sent... knowing God as our loving heavenly Father and ourselves as His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased). But the key is: We have the gift. We don't need to (and can't) earn it. We ought to just be thankful for it. And use the gift we've been given. Live Jesus' abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life by letting Jesus live His own life in us, and through us, and as us. Give away what we've got. Share it. And in that way, experience it. In that way, enjoy it. Give thanks for the things and (more importantly) the people in your life. And in that way BLESS the things and (more importantly) the people in your life. Enjoy what you have instead of always chasing what you don't have. Or, worse yet, what you THINK you don't have. Don't rob yourself of what you've got, by trying to earn something that can't be earned. Something you already have. Something you simply need to receive and release!

When you give thanks for something (or TO someone) you bless it (or them). And that's important. Because a lot of times we take things (and people) for granted. We have somehow developed this kind of ridiculous sense of entitlement. We think the world owes us everything. When all the world will ever try to do is knock you down and take what you've got. And the truth of the matter is, well, let me quote Romans 13:8, "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." Nobody owes anybody anything except love. And the only reason we owe love to each other is because Jesus gave all of His love to us. That's the New Commandment. The perfect law of liberty that we fulfill when we love each other as He has loved us. And that's something to give thanks for. Not something to try to get. Something to experience. By giving it away. By sharing it. That's what the gift of God is all about. That's why He gave us that gift; so we could receive it and release it. That's HOW we experience it. We experience life... by living. And to live is to love. To love is to live. That attitude of gratitude is not about trying to trick God into giving us something. You've probably heard the idea that PUSH means, "Pray Until Something Happens." But I don't think that's really what prayer is all about. I don't think we should be trying to get God to move. I think we should realize that He has already moved, on the cross, and we should thank Him for that movement. Thank Him for what He gave us instead of begging Him for stuff we think we don't have, or stuff we really don't need. What's that old Beatles song? All you need is love. So we already have what we need. We don't need to be out there chasing stuff. And, as always, I'm not saying you shouldn't take care of business. Paul wrote to a church and said, "If you don't work, you don't eat." My pastor always says, "Call up the energy company and tell them how much you love Jesus. See how far that gets you." Point being: You absolutely need to take care of business. But one of my favorite lines in one of my favorite movies asks the question: If you work for a living, why do you kill yourself working? Winning the rat race only makes you king rat. There are more important things than just material "stuff." And while you absolutely should give thanks for the stuff you have, you shouldn't take it for granted, because there are people who would kill for the stuff you have but don't really care about, the most important thing to give thanks for... is love. That connection that we have with each other. Giving thanks for each other blesses each other. And that's important. So important. Knowing that someone cares, that you aren't all alone (especially when you feel like you are all alone), can make all the difference in the world. If you come at life from a place of lack, nothing you ever get will be enough. Because love is never about getting. Because love IS giving. And if you're giving something, it means you have something. Because you can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. And that's something to be thankful for. To give thanks for!

I didn't know I was going to go here, but the last couple of days I've been thinking about the difference in translations--and how its not really a "difference," as much as a different way of looking at it--between Jesus looking to heaven and BLESSING the food before distributing it (in the NLT), and "giving thanks" (in the KJV). And the somewhat obvious conclusion that I came to is that WHEN you give thanks you ARE blessing things. Blessing things that have already been blessed, if you can pick up what I'm laying down. Manifesting the fulness of what God has done. Because, well, let me say it like this: "But the voice spoke again: "Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean"" (Acts 10:15 NLT). And, unfortunately, we do this all the time. Especially with ourselves and each other. Look at John 15:3, "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." The Word, of course, being Jesus. Being love. Love is what has cleansed us. Washed all the dirt, and sin, and all of the things that we did when we believed the lie and thought we had to look for love in all the wrong places, away. And if that's not something to give thanks for, I don't know what is. If that's not something to give a little praise and worship for... But my thought for today is that instead of saying, "God bless you," and basically hoping something will happen, we ought to say, "God BLESSED you." Or, in an even better way, "I appreciate you." I'm thankful for you. That small little Word of affirmation might just bless someone's socks off. Isn't it true that people live longer if they don't retire early? Because they have a purpose. Something to work for, and something to work on. That sense of, "I'm doing something. I'm important," goes a long way. So if you let someone know that they are important... to you... that's one way to bless them. And, listen, Jesus gave thanks (blessed) food. I've always been a big proponent of the rather simple, "See and need and meet it" principle. If someone's stomach is growling, they probably won't be able to hear what you're saying. So if someone's hungry, feed them. Take care of the natural need, then you have a door opened to meet the Spiritual need. Jesus spoke quite a bit about feeding the poor. I always try to bring up the girl He raised from the dead... and then immediately fed. Its important. Can't live by bread alone, but definitely need bread also. So don't think I'm disregarding that aspect. I'm not. Its on my mind a lot. I'm like my grandpa; anytime we came to visit he would make sure we had full bellies. And Logan will tell you, I try to always make sure his gut is full of grub. But I think its also important to let people know that they matter. I think one of the coolest things in the world is when someone checks up on someone else. Because that means they were thinking about them. And a lot of the time we feel like we're in this thing called life by ourselves. So when someone thinks about me, and lets me know, it brightens my day. And then all of a sudden--because they were thankful for me--I have something to be thankful for. And around and around it goes like a Holy Ghost wildfire that consumes everything else and grows and grows and grows!

The attitude of gratitude. That's what it comes down to. Not necessarily bowing your head and closing your eyes and asking God for stuff. Not throwing a penny into the wishing well and hoping for the best. But looking to heaven and seeing things as they really are. Seeing that we have been supplied with everything we will ever need. We have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. We have been blessed with all Spiritual blessings in the heavenly Christ. And that, by the way, is where our praise comes from. We don't praise God in order to try to get Him to move on our behalf. We praise God because He already moved, and it was the most praiseworthy thing that has ever happened in the history of history. God gave us His only begotten Son. Jesus gave His life for us and to us. He proved His love for us by laying His life down for us. When we were sinners. When we couldn't do anything for ourselves, much less for Him. And here's a big key: God never wanted anything FROM us. He wanted to give everything TO us. Look at Psalm 50:12, "If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof." God has always had everything He would ever need. He created everything. Its all His to begin with. But look at what happened way back in Eden's misty garden, "And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it" (Genesis 2:15). He finished the work, and then He gave it to us. So that we could take care of it, and enjoy it. That's all He ever wanted us to do. Enjoy His creation. That's why He created US. God is love. He wanted someone TO love. So He created us. And then, at the appointed time of the cross (and really the cross was just the fulfillment of what happened when the Lamb was slain at the foundation of the world), God manifested Himself--His love--to us, and in us, and as us. He filled us to overflowing with Himself. He gave us the Holy Spirit--the Love Receptor--so that we might know and believe the love that He has always loved us with. So that we might be able to receive the gift He gave us. And in receiving it, release it. And in releasing it, experience it. That's what this life is all about: Obeying the New Commandment that says, "Love one another as Jesus loves you." And that's not something we need to do... or else. That's something we ought to do because it is the very best thing TO do. Listen, there are consequences to your actions, but I don't believe the God who is love is out there punishing people for messing up. I believe our heavenly Father lifts us up when we fall... and keeps us from falling! He doesn't want us to be "in trouble." That's why He made us right with Him. He made us the righteousness of God in Christ. When we were dead in our trespasses and sins He made us alive in Him, by living in us! That's what we're thankful for. Not the petty stuff we get so tied up in. Have you ever heard someone pray, or even say, "God's gonna get you!" Guys. God got us on the cross. Drew us all into Himself. Planted Himself in all of us. Died so we could die. Rose again so we could live. Made the ultimate sacrifice by giving us everything He has and everything He is. And all we ought to do is give thanks. Share the wealth. Love each other. You show that you're thankful for love... by loving people. Loving God BY loving people!

Almost Thanksgiving, right? Might as well do a theme Rant series. And while I do want to get into the "attitude of gratitude" that we really ought to have... I want to start with kicking over some sacred cows. If that's ok. And if its not... read someone else's blog, I guess. Smiley face. Anyway. I'm sure you've heard this before, "Bow your heads and close your eyes." Its a tradition that does back, well, a long time, I guess. But look at this: "Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share" (Mark 6:41 NLT). And I think there are two important things to notice here. 1. Jesus looked up toward heaven. He didn't bow and close. Because Jesus was all about bringing heaven to earth. And the only way to do that is to know how it is in heaven. Even when He taught His disciples to pray He taught them, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). The days of heaven on earth, right? But, again, you have to know how it is in heaven. And seeing is believing. So, as far as it goes, on this side of the cross I would advise us to look INSIDE toward heaven. Because we are IN heaven. Because heaven is in US. And when we look inside (ourselves and each other) we see the love that's inside. And when we know its in there, it can come out. Naturally. When we receive it, we can release it. So the first thing is looking in the right place. Setting our affection on things above, not on things on the earth. You don't have to "get rid of the bad" as much as you have to "let the good times roll." We always get so caught up in fighting the darkness, instead of just letting the light shine. The second thing is: When Jesus looked up toward heaven, He saw abundance. Malachi 3:10 says, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." And notice that it doesn't say "the windows of heaven." It says "I will open YOU, the window of heaven." You are the way heaven GETS to earth. Its in you. It comes out through you. And, of course, by "it" I mean HE. Jesus. Love. That is what makes the abundant life abundant. That is what happens when we give what we've got. Five loaves and two fish fed a multitude. Because Jesus knew what was really going on. Because He looked in the right place, and saw the right thing. He didn't see not enough. He saw more than enough. And that caused Him to give thanks. The NLT says He blessed them, but most other translations use that term "gave thanks." And, to me, that's the only response to seeing something so good. We don't praise God in order to convince Him to do something. We praise God because what He has already done is worthy of praise! That's where the attitude of gratitude comes from; not from trying to get something, but in knowing that we have something. Something that is too good and too big to keep to ourselves. Something that everybody needs. Something worth sharing. And we already have it. So all we need to do is give thanks, and give it away!