In order to let what's inside come out, you have to KNOW what's inside. And the truth of the matter is, what you believe is inside comes out. Automatically. Naturally. We live from the inside-out whether we realize it or not. But here's the tricky part: Love was there first. Before there was anything else, there was God. And God is love. But before the cross we didn't know God. Not really. Not in the way that we are able to know Him now. Because now we know Him through His Son. We know Him as heavenly Father. And we know ourselves as His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. But between the day we were born, and the day we received this revelation of Jesus... the world heaped a lot of, let's say "stuff" onto us. And that love that was always there (even before we knew it COULD be there) kind of almost got buried under all that other stuff. The surface stuff that we see when we look AT the mirror instead of looking INTO the mirror. We don't always see what's inside because we get caught up looking at what's on top. But, like a duck, there's always so much more going on under the surface. So sometimes we need to put in the effort to see what's a little deeper. We need to listen to that still, small voice instead of what the world is screaming in our faces. We need to let the Holy Spirit--the Spirit of Truth--lead and guide us into all truth. We need to make sure that have an open mind and an open heart. The mind of Christ. The heart of God. We have to keep ourselves open to love. And in doing so, we open up. We LET what's inside come out. What's TRULY inside. Because, like I said, what you BELIEVE is inside is what comes out. But what is REALLY inside... is love. Love is not something we need. Love is something we have. Love is something (someONE) that we are. Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in YOUR flesh. Love in YOUR body. So when we know and believe that love is in there... guys... it (HE) is too big and too good to keep to ourselves. I know we sometimes want to fall back into "an eye for an eye." But there's a more excellent way. You don't have to just give back whatever someone gives you. And watch how important this is: Sometimes people have bad days. Sometimes they are "mean" to you without even meaning to. Sometimes we take things personally when people are generally more for themselves than they are against you. And I always say, "Don't take things personally. Even if they are." Instead of giving back what someone gave you--closing yourself off and just letting things boomerang off of you--you can give them what YOU'VE got. You can open up and let the light shine. It (HE) shines on you, and into you, and through you, and out of you! You ARE the light of the world. You ARE the righteousness of God in Christ. You ARE loved, and you ARE love! You just have to know what's inside, and open up so it can get out. Receive it and release it. Jesus stands at the door and knocks. Open up and let Him in. And by letting Him in... let Him out! He IS in you. He lives in you and you live in Him. So embrace the truth and watch it set you free and make you free!

The very phrase that I used for the title of this Rant series (and specifically waited until today to explore) means, "Let what's inside come out." That's what you do when you open up to someone, right? And, yes, we did just look at opening up our heart to let Jesus in. But the truth there is that He IS in. He is the door that He knocks on. Its God's heart beating with love in our chests. So its never something external that we need. That was one of the problems with the Law of Moses; real, true, lasting change cannot come from without. Behavior modification may have some limited "success" at first if you can put enough pressure on someone. But at the end of the day, we are who we are. What's inside WILL come out. Or rather, what we believe is inside will come out. Which is why its so important to know and believe the Word of God. The ultimate truth of the universe. That the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. That God is love and He loves you. That God is your heavenly Father and you are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. When we get that fundamental, foundational truth settled--who God is, and who we are--we can begin to rest. Because we will know that we don't have to try to be someone we're not in order to try to impress God. We will know that He loves us no matter what. Not because of what we do, but because of who we are. And because of who He is. I think when we really start to understand what it means that God IS love we will really start to think differently about, well, everything. We will be able to start using the mind of Christ by letting that mind (that's already in us) be in us. We will stop being afraid to love, because we will know what it means when the Bible talks about perfect love casting out fear. We won't be afraid to open up anymore. We'll be able to fill ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with, and instead of trying to earn something that can't be earned--the gift of God has already been given to us and must simply be received and released--we'll be able to give what we've got. When we know that we ARE loved, we will be able TO love. When we open up (the mind of Christ, and the heart of God) what's inside flows out. Naturally. And that's the point. Love is our new (TRUE) nature. We never needed to BE loved, because we always WERE loved. We just didn't know it. Couldn't believe it. It seemed too good to be true that the God who IS love could love a sinner like me. So what God did was He sent His only Son to take away the sin of the world. To transform us from "sinner" to saint. To give His life for us, and to us. To give us the Holy Spirit--the Spirit of Truth, the loved receptor--so that we might KNOW that we have always been, and will always be, loved. The cross didn't change us into something that God could all of a sudden love. God always has, and always will, love us. The cross changed us into something that could know, and believe, and receive, and release the love of God. The cross--the revelation of Jesus--shone the light of the world on what's inside. The heart. Love. So that what's truly inside can come out. When we open up!

I want to take a little bit of a different tact today, even though I think all I ever do is say the same thing over and over again in a slightly different way. But I think--I hope--this will help us see the importance of keeping our heart and mind open. Revelation 3:20 (NLT), "Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends." I say this all the time, but I truly believe that God is too much of a gentleman to force you to do anything. And, admittedly, there are times when God has done what He wanted to do. The cross, for example. Or when God didn't give Jonah much of a choice on going to Ninevah. But the truth of the matter is that love (Jesus, God) doesn't demand its (HIS) own way. So when Jesus stands at the door and knocks, He doesn't huff and puff and blow your house down. He waits for an invitation. An opportunity. In our weakness He is strong. If we think we can do it ourselves, God will generally let us try. If we think we can do it, He'll let us try to do it. I heard a preacher say it like this, "When you work, God will rest. And when you rest, God will work." I think that's pretty good. Because even though the meal has been prepared (a six-course meal called the Six Steps to the Throne... when Jesus was Crucified, Died, Buried, Quickened, Raised, and Seated), when the Spirit and the bride say "Come," they don't say, "Come... or else." The say, "Come and get it!" Everything is available to us. All we have to do is open up to it. Open the door. And just so we're one hundred percent sure that we're talking about what we're talking about... even though Jesus stands at the door and knocks... Jesus IS the door. "Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep" (John 10:7). And, as my six year old son Logan will tell you, Jesus lives in our hearts. So that door that He's knocking on--the door that He IS--is the heart. And as far as answering that knock goes... to me that simply means listening to that still, small voice inside of us that says, with each and every beat of our hearts, "I love you, I love you, I love you." Answering the call means believing the truth. And I know that when the world is screaming at the top of its lungs about what's wrong with you... it can be hard to HEAR the truth. Much less believe it. But that's what faith is. Faith is not hope. Those are two different things. If you hope God loves you, you don't believe He loves you. But faith comes from hearing. And hearing comes from the Word (LOVE) of God. When you hear that truth about God's love, something rises up in you. Because faith works by love. Jesus said, "Have faith in God" (Mark 11:22). Which means, "Have faith in love." Because God IS love. So what's happening when Jesus (God in the flesh, love in a body) stands at the door of your heart and knocks is that God is filling us to overflowing with His love. With Himself. And all we have to do is open up. Fill ourselves with what we've already been filled with. Receive it and release it. Receive it BY releasing it. And then we get to share that meal with Him. That love feast. Which is good when you consider that you are what you eat. If you feast on love, you will not only be able to love, you will understand that you are loved, and you ARE love!

An open mind and an open heart. Two things (that are really the same thing) that are vitally important to experiencing the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God. Because in order to experience Jesus' life--as He lives His own life in us, and through us, and as us--we have to receive the gift that we've been given. We can't keep trying to earn something that can't be earned by trying to be someone that we're not. We can't have that worldly mindset where we believe we have to do in order to be. We have to be open to the truth that we ARE exactly who we are SUPPOSED to be. The tricky part is that the world screams its lie at us. The world piles things up on the surface, where they are easily seen. And seeing is believing. So when we look AT the mirror (as opposed to looking INTO the mirror) we see our blemishes. Our mistakes. And we start to let those things define us. Let me quote Ephesians 5:25-27 (NLT) to try to kind of make my point: "For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God's word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault." There's a lot going on here, but what I want to focus on is that JESUS did it all. HE cleansed us with the Word (LOVE) so that HE could present us to HIMSELF without spot, wrinkle, or any other blemish. He did everything that was necessary for us to able to stop trying. Stop trying to be someone we're not. Embrace who we are. BE who we are. By knowing and believing that we are who God says we are. His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. But that seems too good to be true. WAY too good to be true. So we close our minds to it. We reject the truth. In some ways its easier to swallow the lie than to believe the truth. Because, again, the lie is shouted from the rooftops. Screamed in our faces. And the truth is spoken in a still, small voice. From deep inside. Underneath all of that surface stuff. In a way that doesn't make any sense at all to the "carnal mind." First is last and last is first. The Kingdom economy is upside down and backwards. The King came to serve, not to be served. He did all of the work so that we could rest. If you're closing your heart to love (probably because you put yourself out there and got hurt, and don't want to get hurt again) then you're missing out on what is available to you. If you're trying to live Jesus' life (or conform to the world and be who they tell you to be) you'll always be frustrated. Because nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus. And you will never be "good enough" for the world. Even under the old religious system there was always "one thing you lacked." Even too much was never enough. You just wore yourself slap out trying to earn something that can't be earned. Trying to be someone you were never meant to be. But, good news, there's a more excellent way. THE Way, Truth, and Life. Jesus. Love. We have His mind. His heart beats with love in our chests. All we have to do is be open to it. Let what's already true be true... for you. By knowing it and believing it!

I think there are two subjects that I want to touch on in this Rant series. And they are really the same thing. The mind of Christ, and the heart of God. And in this Rant series I want to focus on--as the title suggests--opening up. Guarding your heart, by keeping it open, and having an open mind. So to stat I want to quote Ephesians 4:17-18 (NLT), "With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him." Now you can see there's kind of a negative connotation against the "Gentiles" which, in the KJV is number 1484 in Strong's Greek Concordance and means, "a race, that is, a tribe: - specifically a foreign (non-Jewish) one (usually by implication pagan)." In other words... nonbeliever. Because in the new covenant its not Jew or Greek. We are all one in Him. But BEING one, and KNOWING you are one are two different things. And its easy to be hopelessly confused. With a closed mind full of darkness and a hard heart. I think this even happens sometimes when we show people who God is by loving them. Remember the parable of the sower? He sowed seed (the Word of God) all over. But it missed more often than it hit. Because God's love really does seem too good to be true. Especially when you start talking about mercy, and grace. Mercy being not getting what you deserve, and grace being getting what you don't deserve. It can blow somebody's mind when you tell them that God loves them no matter what. When you tell them that it doesn't matter what they've done. When you tell them nothing can separate them from the love of Christ. What they do sometimes is they reject the message and wander far from the life of God. Like Adam and Eve way back in Eden's misty garden, they hid from the presence of God. The presence is still there--God promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us--but its almost like we stick our fingers in our ears and make that obnoxious "I can't hear you" noise. The tragedy, of course, is that the thing we're almost kind of willfully ignoring is the thing that we so desperately desire. We give love a chance, and it doesn't work out the way we should, and we think we need to guard our hearts by closing them down in order to protect ourselves from being hurt again. And, listen, I understand the impulse: once you get burned you tend to shy away from the fire. But that's not how the heart works. The heart's sole purpose is to receive and release love. So in order to guard it, to keep it working properly, we need to keep it open. We can't let the mind of Christ (that's already in us) BE in us by being closed minded. We need to be open to what God has for us. What God has already given us. We need to be open to the possiblity of love. The reality of love. The truth that God is love and He loves you. The truth that He gave His life FOR you, and He gave His life TO you. Because He wanted you to have it. So open up and receive it... and release it!

Putting in effort doesn't always mean doing the biggest thing. And for a guy who has the motto of "Go big or go home" that's a lesson that I continually have to focus on. Because I'm a fixer. If I see a problem, I want to take care it. I don't want it to be a problem anymore. But that's not always what the situation calls for. Some problems aren't yours to fix. Sometimes people have to go through things. That's how they learn and grow. So if you do everything FOR someone, you can rob them of experiences they need to have. And, listen, I'm not saying you should just throw people to the wolves either. My mantra with my son is this: "Logan, try your best. And if you still need help I've got your back. One hundred percent." Because I don't want him to depend on me for everything. I want him to be able to do what he can do. Now I always want to point out that this isn't EXACTLY how our heavenly Father feels towards us. Because He DOES want us to depend on Him. For everything. But, again, that doesn't mean we don't do anything ourselves. Rest is not inactivity. Rest is Holy Spirit directed activity. And the Holy Spirit always directs us to love. And love is the max effort you can give someone--giving everything you have and everything you are. So we DO from a posture of rest. Not trying to hard. Not doing what we CAN'T do, but simply doing what we CAN do. Giving what we've got. Which, when you think about it, is all we really can do. You can't give what you don't have. How could you? You don't have it. And you can only give what you do have. What else could you possibly give? But my point is: Don't try to do too much. Don't try to be someone you're not. Stay in your lane, if I can say it that way. Walk according to your calling. You are uniquely positioned to be YOU and to touch people that God has (or will) put in YOUR path. The effort isn't about doing what you can't do. Its about doing what you can do. Its not about being who you're not. Its about being who you are. Sometimes the most effort you will ever have to put in to something is to stop yourself from doing something. Because, especially if you're anything like me, your first instinct will be to go all out. To rush in and fix things. So sometimes you have rein yourself in. Seek first to understand, right? Make sure you know what's going on before you start kicking benches over. Maybe those benches need to be there. Maybe--certainly--there's more going on than just what meets the eye. There's surface stuff, sure, but if you just stick a band-aid on it you might miss the CAUSE of the surface stuff. You might miss what's really going on. You might treat the symptom, but miss out on the disease. And if that happens, the symptoms will come back. So by trying to hard you might be hurting instead of helping. Sometimes less is more. Letting things play out. You can be there, ready to reach out, but you don't have to make everything "perfect" all the time. Or YOUR idea of what perfect is. Put your effort into understanding, so that you can love in the way someone needs to be loved. So that you can help in a way that will actually help. Sometimes the least you can do is the most you can do. Sometimes the small things ARE the big things. And sometimes max effort is about letting go instead of hanging on.

Sometimes the least you can do is the most you can do. That's the phrase that has been resonating on my heart for the past few days. And my pastor taught me (what seems like) a long time ago to preach it until my heart is empty on it. So I'm going to keep working on this idea. And to me it kind of has two meanings. Because love--giving everything you have and everything you are--isn't always easy. Sometimes the most you can do for someone is something that seems small. I imagine its doesn't seem small to you, because its taking everything you have to do it. And I don't imagine it seems small to them, because if someone is "hard to love" any small gesture they get is probably pretty big. But it might not look like much to the outside observer. I always bring up my cookie story. And, to be fair, my cowoker wasn't hard to love. It just wasn't really in my (old) nature to give up a cookie. So while someone might say, "You shared a cookie. Big deal." To the one who was hungry it WAS a big deal. And to the one who only had one cookie and really wanted to eat it it WAS a big deal. The least I could do was the most I could do. It was, in that circumstance, everything. The other meaning I think this phrase has is that sometimes we try to do too much. We try to fix things that we don't necessarily need to fix. We try too hard and we end up hurting instead of helping. I think this is where the phrase "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" comes from. Now, to be totally honest with you I'm much more concerned with the Highway of Holiness than I am the highway to hell. But the point remains that sometimes when we try to help we end up not helping. Sometimes we make things worse. Because we don't always understand the situation. If you only see the surface stuff your first instinct is probably to just slap a band-aid on it. But what we see is usually not the whole story. I don't think we ever know the WHOLE story. Especially when its someone ELSE'S story. So we jump in feet first trying to save the day and we end up kicking things around and knocking things over without even meaning to. I've been experiencing this quite a little bit lately. People sticking their two cents in where it really isn't needed. And I can appreciate that they want to help... but they really aren't. What I'm trying to say is: Sometimes less is more. Sometimes we need to put our effort into understanding the problem instead of trying to fix it. That's one of the Seven Habits at my son's school--seek first to understand. And it can take a lot of effort. But its worth it in the end. Because the RIGHT Word (Jesus, Love) is better than the first word OR the last word. The RIGHT Word (Jesus, Love) can make all the difference. But if you don't know is needed, you can't hardly meet that need. I think the gospel--God is love, and He loves you, receive and release His love--is pretty simple. And to make it even more simple: See a need and meet it. Take care of people. Give what you've got instead of always trying to get get get. Don't let people dictate to you. Don't give an eye for an eye. Turn the other cheek. Put some effort in where its least expected. Because sometimes where its least expected is where its most powerful. Most needed. And most effective. 

When you give something everything you've got--maximum effort, love--you can look back on it with no regrets. No matter which way it turns out. Whether you "win" or "lose" you've done what you could do. And I like to quote Jeremiah 7:27 (NLT) when I talk about this idea, "Tell them all this, but do not expect them to listen. Shout out your warnings, but do not expect them to respond." They might not pick up what you're laying down... lay it down anyway. That's the greatest love a man can have: laying his life down for his friends. And when we start to see everyone as a friend, that's when we start to see things correctly, because the light of the world is shining on us, and in us, and through us. When you pick and choose who you love, you aren't really experiencing love. Because love is unconditional. You don't love people because you think they will respond to it in a certain way. You don't speak the Word of God--which is Jesus, which is love--because you think someone will listen to it. You speak it because its in your mouth. Because its in your heart. I think the best reason (possibly the only reason) to do something is because its in your heart to do it. That's where the effort COMES FROM. And, as we (hopefully) saw yesterday, the most effort you can put into someone is getting to know them. Figuring out what love means to them. So that you can love them the way they need to be loved. Again, nothing works for everyone, all the time. You have to play to your audience, if I can say it that way. Like, for me (and I try to use myself as an example, because I know I won't get offended), if I'm having a bad day... soda pop and chocolate is a good start. But you might not feel the same way. So I can't use--or twist--the golden rule into thinking "I like soda and chocolate. I'm supposed to treat others as I would like to be treated. I'll get them soda and chocolate." That's not what its about. Its about "I want to be loved, so I ought to love." And always remember, we don't love in order to GET love. We love because we HAVE love. Love is never about getting. Love IS giving. Giving what you've got. Sharing it. And in that way, experiencing it. Things are more real when they're shared. Its not good that man should be alone. And if you share it--here's where the rubber meets the road--if you share it, and its rejected... you did your part. You did what you could do. You loved them without expectation. So you don't have to be disappointed that it didn't go the way you thought it should go. Let me quote one more memory verse today: "“When you knock on a door, be courteous in your greeting. If they welcome you, be gentle in your conversation. If they don’t welcome you, quietly withdraw. Don’t make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way..." (Matthew 10:12-15 MSG). Don't make a scene. Don't make things worse by trying to "fix" them. Don't force Jesus down people's throats. They WILL choke on Him. Just shrug your shoulders and be on your way. "I tried. I did what I could do." And, hey, you never know... maybe you planted a seed. Maybe someone else will water it and maybe it will grow. But either way, you put in the effort and you have nothing to be ashamed of. No regrets. Because you gave it everything you had. And that's all you can ever do.

Love--giving someone everything you are and everything you have--is the maximum effort that you can give. But love doesn't mean giving more than someone can handle. Loving someone means loving THEM. Seeing a need and meeting it, no matter how big or small. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you doesn't mean trying to get what you want by giving it away. Like, if you want someone to do something to you, doing it to them is probably not the way to go about it. And if your motive is to GET, you've missed the entire point. Because love is never about getting. Because love IS giving. Giving without expectation. Because sometimes, you'll give it all you've got... you'll go the extra mile... and the person you're showering with love will still do what THEY want instead of doing what YOU want. Which, again, if you're trying to get something... its not love at all. Its manipulation and control. My point is: when you're doing what you can do, do it because its in your heart to do it. Or don't do it at all. Because people, for the most part, can smell real. And if you're fake... you're done. It doesn't matter how hard you try to act like you care, if you don't really care that's all it'll ever be--an act. But if you put on those things that we've been talking about from Colossians 3:12... if you do things that are useful, because you're not afraid to humiliate yourself, or suffer, because you're thinking of others and not yourself... then you'll be able to really connect with people. Build relationship. Know what people need and give them what they need. Because love comes in many shapes and sizes. Because people have needs of many different shapes and sizes. If you try to "love" everybody in the same way, its not going to work. People give love in different ways and people receive love in different ways. The love languages, right? So don't try to do a "one size fits all" kind of love. I know some people who only have one tool in their toolbox, and they get frustrated when it doesn't work all of the time. Because nothing works all of the time on all people. Sometimes (rarely, to be honest, but sometimes) I want to talk. Most of the time I like to be quiet. So if you think you're loving me by trying to force me to talk... you're not. Even though talking might be how you express love, its not always how I receive it. So when you're putting in the effort to love ME, do what will help ME. That's where the effort needs to be. Take the time to find out what I need and then give me that. Treat me the way you want to be treated by treating me with kindness. Patience. Mercy. Grace. Love. Don't try to love me the way you wish someone loved you. Because that might not be my love language. But the coolest thing about love is, if you want to experience it you have to give it away. When you love others is when you feel love the most. And for the record, I do love the quote that says, "Be the person you needed when you were young." Because if something was lacking in your life, and you make that thing available... you're filling a need. Making things better. But my point today is, put in the effort to see what I need, and then (if you can) give me what I need. Thinking of others is how you be Christ-centered. Taking care of others is, in a sense, how you take care of yourself. So... more tomorrow.

Not too long ago I did a Rant series called, "Maximum Effort." And, truth be told, I don't think I really liked it too much. I think I knew what I was trying to say, but I don't think I necessarily communicated it very well. What I was trying to say--and what I plan on trying to say in this very similar Rant series--is that love is the maximum effort you can give someone. Now, it is true that you have to give max effort in order to love. Love is giving. Giving everything you have and everything you are. That is the definition of love. Jesus said there's no greater love that a man can have than to give his life for his friends. And then Jesus went to the cross and did just that. He put His money where His mouth was. He didn't just TELL us what love is. He SHOWED us what love is. Because seeing is believing. And its easy to say any old thing. But then to back it up with actions? That means something. Jesus literally gave it all. He gave His life FOR us, and He gave His life TO us. Because we needed it. And because He wanted us to have it. That's what love is. That's WHO love is. Love does what is necessary. I think (I hope) that's what we saw in my uber-series about Colossians 3:12. Love isn't afraid to humilate Himself. He doesn't toot His own horn, He lets His actions speak for themselves. He is useful. He takes a lot of "stuff" and still stands strong. He doesn't give up as soon as things get hard. He endures. He knows that He has (He IS) what people need. Whether they know it or not. And He knows that its worth it to give Himself to people. In whatever way they need Him. Again, I don't think you need to put yourself in, or stay in, a bad situation. I'm simply saying that if you see a need that you can meet... do it. I remember one time in my life I was able to do something really big for some people that I loved. Something that they didn't expect. Something that allowed them to make a once in a lifetime memory. I was able to do it... so I did it. And I'm not tooting my own horn. I'm not going to tell you what I did or who I did it for. I know, and they know, and that's enough. My point is... sometimes love is a big bold gesture. And that's fine. That's great. That's life changing. But sometimes love is just simply being there for someone. Giving them a shoulder to cry on. Giving them an ear so they can get something off their chest. Commiserating with someone can be just as powerful as a grand gift. Because when you let someone who is feeling like they're alone, when you let them know that they're NOT alone... that can be life changing too. That small thing can be the biggest thing that ever happens to them. What's that old saying? Everybody is fighting a battle you know nothing about, so be kind. Random acts of kindness can be exactly what someone needs. You're not called to change THE world, but when you love someone, chances are you'll change THEIR world. When you make that effort to be there, to support, to edify, to build up someone... that's important. That's the real stuff. And it can be difficult sometimes. Because sometimes even if you have what someone needs, they aren't ready for it. They don't know, or accept, that they need it. So sometimes you have to do it little by little. Baby steps. Sometimes it takes max effort to do something "small." But sometimes small is all someone can take. That's ok. As long as its love, its exactly what it needs to be!