You can believe whatever you want. I think I've gone on record saying that many times. But my question is: If there's a more excellent way (and there IS a more excellent way) why wouldn't you choose that? I generally quote Deuteronomy 30:19 when I talk about this choice, so I'll go ahead and do so now. "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." It's like... here's the choice... AND here's the right answer. You can listen to what the world is trying to convince you of by screaming at the top of its lungs... or you can listen to the still, small voice inside you that is only saying one thing over and over. The Word of God. Love. When you listen to THAT voice... everything else falls into place. When you know and believe that you ARE loved... you CAN love. And when you set your affection on things above, and not on things on the earth, that's when you let the mind of Christ (that's already in you) BE in you. That's when you start using the mind of Christ. Not just knowing the happy thoughts that God thinks toward you, but actively thinking those same thoughts. About yourself AND about others. Because that's the whole point of the whole thing: Receiving AND releasing. Receiving BY releasing. Thinking the thoughts, and then putting them into action. Because love is more than just an idea. The Word (Jesus, love) became FLESH and dwelt among us. And then, through the cross, the Word stopped merely dwelling AMONG us and took up abode WITHIN us. The Word, love, became Charity, love in action. Our thought life defines our life. What you believe is what becomes true for you--again, not just any old thing. You can't say, "I believe I'm a millionaire" and then check your bank account and expect to have millions of dollars. But out of the two choices, the Lord or the world... life or death. You don't have to believe everything you think. It's the idea behind 2 Corinthians 10:5, "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." NOt that you should go around chasing thoughts in order to try to beat them into submission and bring them into captivity. Exactly the opposite, in fact. Some thoughts you just need to let go of. Hold onto the ones that are good, and pure, and edifying. And let go of the ones that drag you down. Keep your affection on things ABOVE. And don't let anything else trip you up. Lay aside that sin (unbelief) and that weight that so easily besets you. I know its easy to get tangled up in things. To chase thoughts around until you're all messed up. Its easy to trip and fall. But there's also this: "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen" (Jude 1:24-25). That same God (who is love) that lives inside of us can, and will, keep us from falling. We don't have to let the world drag us down. And in fact, when Jesus (LOVE) is holding us up NOTHING can drag us down. When the light shines, the darkness can do nothing but flee. When you think happy thoughts--by casting your cares on Him, because He cares for you--happy things will manifest in your life!

God has happy thoughts toward us. Thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give us the expected end that took place on the cross when He gave us His only begotten Son. When He gave us Himself. When He gave us His Spirit. When He gave us His mind. And because He has given us His mind, we not only know His thoughts... we can think His thoughts. By LETTING the mind of Christ, that's already in us, BE in us. By using the gift we've been given. Because its only when you know the truth--that God is love, and He loves you--that you can ignore the lie. Guys, I get it. The lie makes a lot of sense. To the natural mind "Do in order to be" is logical. Because to the natural mind OF COURSE we aren't good enough. Look at this reason why. And this reason why. And this reason why. Listen to what the world says about us. Its easy to believe we're not good enough. And if we believe we're not good enough, its easy to believe that only through hard manual labor could we ever become good enough. But I've always wondered... if you aren't good enough on your own to begin with... could you really climb high enough on your own to become good enough? When man wanted to build a tower and make a name for himself... God didn't really like that. He shut that plan down, no exceptions. Because He had a more excellent way for us. He didn't want us to make a name for OURSELVES. He wanted to give us HIS name. Which, again, happened over 2,000 years ago on an old rugged cross. And, really, it happened before anything happened. Because the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. God never had a bad thought towards us. What you think inside is what comes out, right? And what came out of God--when we were dark, and void, and without form--was, "Let there be light." Jesus, the light of the world, was inserted into our lives so that we could see clearly. THINK clearly. So that we could ignore the lie and let the truth set us free and make us free. Jesus is the Lamb of God who took away the sin (unbelief) of the world. By giving us the measure of faith. By giving us something (someONE, Himself, LOVE) to believe in. So that we wouldn't have to keep thinking doom and gloom. So that we could set our affection on things above, and not on things on the earth. So that we could magnify LOVE instead of magnifying our problems and making mountains out of molehills. So that we could live a life of rest instead of struggling with the lie that says we're not good enough. Here's a happy thought: You are exactly who you're supposed to be. God created you specifically. And He created you specifically... YOU. Here's another happy thought, you don't have to be someone you're not. Ever. If the qualification for something is for you to be someone you're not... that's not the right thing for you. And thank God for that. Because no matter how hard you try you will ALWAYS be who you are. You might be able to fake it a little bit, for a little while, but what's inside--what you BELIEVE is inside--WILL come out. What you magnify IS what will manifest. So you can either believe the world's report, and be miserable, or you can believe the Word of God--which is love, love, and more love--and be happy!

When things don't go your ways... that's when its most important to see the bigger picture. The grand scheme. God's master plan. To know His thoughts for you--thoughts of peace, and not of evil... an expected end that ended at the cross. The end of the old and the beginning of the new. New life so that we might walk in newness OF life! Not life as we've known it, struggling to get by by the skin of our teeth... trying to earn our bread by the sweat of our brows... trying to get that carrot even though the stick keeps it JUST out of reach... not that life. But HIS life. The abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love that Jesus gave us on the cross. He didn't just give His life FOR us, He gave His life TO us. He gave His Holy Spirit to us. So that we might be able to receive and release His love, and in that way obey the New Commandment. He gave us His mind, so that we might be able to know and believe, and think, the thoughts of God. The thoughts of the God who is love. The thoughts of a happy God. Which, by the way, are happy thoughts. Guys... God is NOT mad at you. But He IS mad ABOUT you. Head over heels in love with you. To the point that He would literally rather die than be without you. Loving us with a love so strong that not even death could hold it (HIM) down. Loving us with a love so strong that everything else is consumed in that fire. Worries fade away when we follow the instructions (or advice, if you prefer) in 1 Peter 5:7, "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." That, in my opinion, is HOW we think happy thoughts. What's that saying, "Let go and let God"? Exactly. Don't worry about every little thing. Because what you magnify is what manifests in your life. Its so easy to make mountains out of molehills and to give things that don't have any power, power over us. Remember yesterday I said you don't have to believe everything you think. You know the truth--that God is love and He loves you--so you don't have to listen to the lie. You know God's thoughts because you have His mind. So when you come up against a situation in your life... you don't have to ignore it... but you don't have to stress out about it either. You can cast that care on your heavenly Father. You can let Daddy take care of it. I've been teaching Logan one very important thing lately: "When you have a problem, try your best to solve it. And if you can't solve it yourself... bring it to me. I'm the problem solver." And I think that's how it is with OUR heavenly Father. In fact, while I'm trying to teach Logan how to problem solve, and be somewhat independent, I think God would prefer if we bring our problems to Him right from the jump. I think we cause ourselves a lot of headaches and heartaches when we try to go our own way and do things ourselves. I think God will let us try, but I think He would prefer if we let Him do what He KNOWS is best in us, and through us, and as us, instead of us doing what we THINK is best. Sometimes what we THINK is nowhere near what really is. Sometimes we let what a situation looks like get us into trouble. Because sometimes by trying to help we end up hurting. Sometimes we want to fight against perceived evil. When really we just need to let love do its (His) thing. See love... and be love. Love is all-powerful. Which, as always, don't mean MOST powerful. It means love has--love IS--all of the power. When we magnify LOVE in our lives, that's what will manifest. And we do that by casting our care upon Him, knowing that He cares for us!

You don't have to believe everything you think. Seriously. I'm not sure exactly where thoughts come from... past experience has a lot to do with it, I think... but just because you think something is true doesn't necessarily make it so. And I can say this from my own past experience. I'm a pretty laid back guy, but I tend to overthink things. Or not think about them at all. The extremes, right? All or nothing. And either extreme can really end up driving you crazy. Basically YOU driving YOURSELF crazy. Getting caught up in what's ifs. Or what could have beens. Its exhausting. And its the opposite of rest. The best way to experience this gift of God that we've been given--the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of Jesus--is to let Him live His own life in us, and through us, and as us. Have you ever heard the saying, "If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plan"? Now I don't necessarily think God finds our plans funny. But that point is that life happens while you're making those plans. You have to be able to roll with the punches. Because while GOD knows the end from the beginning, WE see in part and know in part. Nobody knows what the future holds... but we DO know the One who holds the future in His hands. We know God's thoughts for us. Thoughts of peace, and not of evil. An expected end. And we know the extraordinary effort He went to in order to GIVE us that expected end. So we can trust that what God has for us is what's best for us. And we can trust that what God has for us... is what is available to us. The gift has already been given. All we have to do is receive it and release it. Receive it BY releasing it. Experience what we've got by sharing it. By giving it away. By knowing and believing that we've got it. If you're always trying to get something--in this case, looking for love in all the wrong places--you're going to get discouraged. You're going to get frustrated. Because if you're always trying to get something that you've already got, all you're really going to be able to do is rob yourself from it. Drive yourself crazy. Bang your head against the wall and come away with nothing but a headache. Luckily, there's a more excellent way. A Way (Truth, and Life) in which you don't have to do anything in order to be anything. You don't have to earn love. And thank God for that, because it CAN'T be earned. It has been freely given, and must be freely received. God loves you, but I don't think He will force you to accept His love. I heard a preacher once say that God is a stalker, because no matter what you do He will never leave you nor forsake you. But at the same time I think God is too much of a gentleman to force you to accept Him. And if you have to force someone to accept you, that's not REAL acceptance at all. And that kind of nonsense leads to bad thoughts. Resentment. Bitterness. Things of that nature. Luckily (again) we don't have that old, selfish, beast nature anymore. We have the love nature of the God who IS love. We have His life. His Spirit. His nature. His mind. And all we have to do is let that mind of Christ--that's already in us--BE in us. All we have to do is USE that mind of Christ. Set our affection on things above. Focus on what is truly important. What you magnify is what manifests in your life. So magnify the good stuff. Think happy thoughts. Let love rule and reign in your life!

Your thought life is vitally important. Because the way you think about things literally affects how you deal with things. If you see something as "bad," for example, you're way more likely to try to fight against that thing. But if you see the same thing as "good," then you'll probably be more willing to accept it. Here's what Jesus said about all that though, "Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment" (John 7:24). Its like we don't realize that Good and Evil were on the same tree. The tree of death. The fig tree that Jesus cursed because it looked ok, but was unable to produce any fruit. Yet we swing back and forth from branch to branch and let our thoughts run around in circles. Here's the deal, guys: "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive" (Genesis 50:20). And that's from a guy who had his brothers sell him into slavery, and spent a lot of time in prison for crimes he didn't commit, and basically had every reason in the world to hold a grudge. But what he did instead was he trusted God. He kept a positive attitude. Almost like he knew that, "...all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). God has a master plan. That's what He thinks about. "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end" (Jeremiah 29:11). God has happy thoughts. And the reason they are so happy (sorry if I'm getting Scripture-happy today, trying to lay a good foundation) is because He is, "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure" (Isaiah 46:10). That expected end that God thinks toward you... from His perspective it has already happened. It happened 2,000 years ago on the cross. And really, since the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world, it happened before anything else happened. That expected end is not a hoped for end. It is the end that He knew from the beginning. It is not a Plan B. It is THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life. THE PLAN. So when the plan takes unexpected turns... when the straight and narrow way that leads to life feels like a long and winding roard... we can think happy thoughts. In the movie Hook, happy thoughts make you fly. In the real world they can help you through what you're going through. And, as always, I'm not saying you should ignore things. Sticking your head in the sand might work for ostriches, but it doesn't work for humans. You have to deal with what comes your way. Joseph didn't act like he wasn't sold into slavery. He didn't act like he wasn't in jail. He acted like God was with him no matter what. He looked on the sunny side of life, if I can say it that way. The light of the world (Jesus, love) let him see things as they really are. Because truth is higher than fact. The fact of the matter was jail... the truth of the matter was one more step in the journey to saving his people. So don't judge things in the moment by how they look. Try to see the bigger picture. Try to understand that God has good, happy thoughts toward you. And let THAT mind of Christ (that's already in you) BE in you! The mind of love. Thoughts of love. Happy thoughts!

If we're talking about life--which is, believe it or not, most of what Jesus talked about--then we're talking about love. So if we're talking about living forever, then we're talking about loving forever. Because love never fails. It LASTS forever. Immortality isn't necessarily about our human bodies never dying. Immortality is about what we do with them, and LEAVING something that lasts. LIVING while we have this opportunity to live. Giving what we've got instead of always trying to get something we think we haven't got. Living out of our abundance. And, like I always say, what makes this abundant life abundant... is love. That's what we have. That's what we give. That's how we live. Forever. I tried to focus a little bit on how everlasting doesn't have a beginning or an end. It always has been and always will be. Because it seems like we're waiting for one thing to end before another can start. When really, its available to us right now. All we have to do is put it on. BE transformed into what we've already BEEN transformed into. By the renewing of your mind. By letting the mind of Christ (that's already in you) BE in you. You don't DO in order to be. You do BECAUSE you be. You don't love in order to be loved. You love because you ARE loved. You don't kill yourself trying to GET a life. You were crucified with Christ and He GAVE you HIS life! That's the gift of God--immortality, eternal life, knowing the Father in the context of being His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased--and we already have it! We don't need to GET anything. Certainly not by loving. That's backwards. Love IS giving. We don't love in order to get. We love because we have. Because the God who IS love first loved us. He gave us everything He had and everything He was on the cross. So that we might know and believe His love for us. So that we might be able to receive and release His love for us. So that we might come out of darkness and into the light. Out of death and into life! That's what happened when Life Himself died on the cross--the old passed away and the new came forth. Death could not hold life down. Life wins. LOVE wins! There is nothing holding us back from experiencing this gift--the life of living and loving--except unbelief. And Jesus took that away. He took away the sin of the world. He gave us something (someONE, Himself, LOVE) to believe in. He gave us the Holy Spirit--the love receptor, the Spirit of Truth--to defeat the lie. So now we can just ignore the lie. We don't even need to fight it, because Jesus won the war to end all wars on the cross. All we need to do is fight the good fight and faith and believe in love. Even when it seems too good to be true. ESPECIALLY when it seems too good to be true. Because the truth is, love is SO good that it (HE) must be true! Jesus came that we might have LIFE and that more abundantly. So He gave us what we needed in order to experience that life. He gave us HIS life. He gave us His Spirit. He gave us Himself. So that HE could live His own abundant, everlasting, eternal, immortal, Resurrection Life in us, and through us, and as us. So that we could enjoy the gift we were given. So that we could know and believe that we are loved, and so that we could love each other with that same love. That's what life is all about. And a life of love will never end. Because love lasts forever!

Living forever means loving forever. It is something that is incorruptible. Something that lasts, far beyond this mortal time. So I think anytime we act in love--which is charity--we experience this immortality. Jesus gave it to us, so we have it. But its not something that ever starts or ends. It always has been and always will be. The key is putting it on. Letting go of the old, and embracing the new. That's the "battle" that we are to "fight." 1 Timothy 6:12 describes it like this, "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." And notice that we are not to GET eternal life. Because we already have it. We are to lay hold on it. Receive it. By releasing it. Experience it. By sharing it. That's why there are many witnesses... because love is giving. And since living is loving and loving is living... living forever means GIVING forever. Giving everything you have and everything you are. Because you know that you are connected to the limitless source. Its not, "the more I give away, the less I have." Its, "The more I give away the MORE I have." Because, again, BY releasing it I am receiving it. I am experiencing God's love when I love others. Love God, love people, right? Love God BY loving people. And in that way we put on immortality. We lay hold on eternal life. We experience Jesus' abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life as He lives it in us, and through us, and as us. We experience immortality when we love because love never fails, or fades away. It (HE) endures. It (HE) lasts. Love is all-powerful. Which doesn't mean MOST powerful. It means nothing else has any power. And, yes, sometimes we use love as a "break glass in case of emergency." Sometimes we use love after we've tried everything else. When you feel like you don't have something, its really hard to give what you've got. But that's why its the good FIGHT of faith. I Ranted not too long ago about how you can believe whatever you want. You can run the rat race if you want to. But at best you'll end up king rat. And who really wants that? Especially when there's a more excellent way available to us. A way in which giving is not the same thing as losing. You can't lose something that is unlimited. You can't lose something that never ends. All you can do is share it. Give it away so others can experience it too. Life isn't about what you've got. Its about what you give. When the Word (Jesus, love) is made flesh God literally dwells among us. What's inside (God, love) comes out. When we give everything we have and everything we are... that's when we experience immortality. Because that's what the gospel--God is love, and He loves you--brought to light. The secret of life is this: You were created to be loved, and to love others with that same love. You were created to share this life you've been given. It is not good that man should be alone, right? We make connections with others... and they don't always last. But that connection that is love DOES last. The people may come and go, but the effects of love last forever. I still remember the way some people--my grandpa, who has passed away, for example--loved me. And in that way he isn't gone at all. He lives on. Because of love.

The abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God--the gift of God that is a life of being loved and loving one another with that same love--always has been and always will be. It is not something that happens when you die. Physically dying is just transitioning into something different than we have now. But here's what I'm trying to say: It has always been. It will always be. It was given to us on the cross when Jesus gave Himself to us. When He gave His life for us, and gave His life to us. The gift is available to us. But look at 1 Corinthians 15:51-54, "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." So first things first, IF physical death happens, it will be a change. Nothing more. I'm not trying to be callus, I understand how hard it can be when loved ones physically pass on. I'm simply saying that's not the end of the story. And my point is... immortality always has been and always will be. Its available to us. All we have to do is put it on. Stop dragging around the corpse of the dead old man and start walking in newness of life. A new shirt is a pretty nice gift... but if you never put it on and wear it, what good does it do you? You HAVE it, certainly, but you aren't necessarily enjoying it. We spend so much time worrying about death, and what will happen afterwards, that we seem to forget about LIVING. Jesus came that we might have LIFE and that more abundantly. He came that we might pass out of death--remember, before the cross we were dead in our trespasses and sins. The second death, when death and hell were thrown into the lake of fire, was the death OF death. That's when, and how, death was swallowed up in victory. He came that we might pass out of death and into life. HIS life. The incorruptible, immortal life of God. A life of living and loving. Of being loved so much that it fills you to overflowing and comes out of you naturally. Loving people because the love you have is too good to keep to yourself. And watch this: Loving people makes a difference to people. I've never seen people get so surprised by something I do as when I love them. Its like the thing we want the most (love) is the thing we expect the least. It stuns us. We oftentimes even look for an ulterior motive. Because it seems too good to be true. But guys... love doesn't HAVE a motive. Love IS the motive. We don't love because of something else is compelling us to act. We act in love (charity) because love is compelling us to act! And when we love someone, and make a difference in their lives, that's our legacy. That's one way in which we truly live forever. Because love is like a snowball--it feeds on itself and grows and grows and grows. So no matter how long our physical life is, when we put on immortality--by loving each other--we live forever! Because love lasts forever. It (HE) never gives up. Or fails. When life Himself--LOVE Himself--died... the grave couldn't hold Him down. Life was too powerful. LOVE is too powerful!

Here's my thought for today: Immortality has come to LIGHT through the gospel. I think that's important. Because when you think about it, immortality has always been, and will always be. It didn't start when Jesus died. Its like the way Melchisedec is described in Hebrews 7:3, "Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God..." Eternal. Forever. Again, always has been, and always will be. But hidden. Available to us, but easily missed as we wore ourselves out trying to earn our bread by the sweat of our brows. Or as we robbed ourselves from the gift we've been given by trying to enter into the sheepfold any other way but through the door. Looking for love in all the wrong places, if I can say it that way. Trying to earn something that can't be earned. And settling for much less than what our heavenly Father wanted for us. But God, being a GOOD heavenly Father, wasn't ok with us missing out on what He wanted for us. What He HAD for us. So He gave us His only begotten Son. So that we might know that we ARE His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. So that we might know Him as Father, instead of knowing Him as a distant, angry taskmaster who is always out to get you every time you mess up. That's what religion presents to us. But that's not the God who is love. That's not what Jesus showed us. And Jesus basically told Philip, "If you've seen me you've seen the Father." Because in the beginning the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God. Jesus said in another place, "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30). So Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, always has been and always will be. This isn't some plan B that God came up with when we surprised Him by being completely unable to keep His Law. The Law wasn't given so that you could fit into a box and keep it. The Law was given to show you that you CAN'T keep it. The Law is the schoolmaster that brings us to Christ. The One who could, and did, keep and fulfill the Law. The One who brought us out of the Old Covenant and into the New Covenant. Where our trespasses and sins are remembered no more. Where we can stop struggling with sin (unbelief) because Jesus took away the sin of the world! He gave us something (someONE, Himself, LOVE) to believe in by shining His glorious light! That's why the gospel brings immortality to light... because what was hidden can now clearly be seen. Because God--who IS light--shines in our heart. Let me quote it: "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your heart" (2 Peter 1:19). Jesus is the light of the world. And WE are the light of the world. Its the same light. The gospel: God is love and He loves you. The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. God loves you so much that He gave you everything He has and everything He is. He gave you His Holy Spirit--the love receptor--so that you could receive and release His love. And in that way partake of the Divine Nature. And in that way experience and enjoy the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life that has always been available. Live by loving. Forever. That's immortality!

Well that's a pretty big subject, isn't it? One of my favorite movies tackles it--Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade--but I'm not talking about a literally fountain of youth here (or, as seen in the movie, the holy grail). And, don't get me wrong, Psalm 103:5 does say, "Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's." But that's not what I'm trying to explore in this Rant series. More, "But is not made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:10). Because it seems like a lot of the time we live like we're dying, instead of living like we're going to live forever. We spend our Three T's (time, talent, and treasure) making sure things will be ok when we're gone. And I'm not saying we shouldn't do that. We SHOULD want to leave things better than we find them. But, like I've Ranted on before, if you are stuck in the future (or the past) you'll miss out on the present. And that's what, to me, immortality is really all about. Living life to the fullest, if I can say it that way. Living out of our abundance. With no fear of death... because death has been abolished. And if we DO go through the gates of physical death, we know that's not the end of the story. Just the end of one chapter before something new happens. Ok. So. The word, "immortality" in our verse of Scripture is number 861 in Strong's Greek Concordance. It means, "incorruptibility; generally unending existence; (figuratively) genuineness: - immortality, incorruption, sincerity." Living a sincere, or true, life. Because you know the truth of the gospel--that God is love and He loves you--and that truth has set you free and made you free. An unending existence because love never ends. As long as there is love... there is life. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. They aren't just connected, they are the same thing. You can't really do one without the other. And the incorruptibility part led me straight to 1 Peter 1:23, "Being born agian, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." And 1 John 3:9, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." The new birth--which came after the second death (Jesus dying for us and as us on the cross), which was when death and hell were cast into the lake of fire--didn't just hit the reset button on our lives so we could try it again. The new birth brought about a New Man. A man who, according to John 3:16, "...should not perish, but have everlasting life." That's what the gospel brought to light: A life WITHOUT sin and death. A life where our conscious has been purged. Where we can lay aside the sin (unbelief) and the weight that so easily besets us. Where we know the truth, and can just ignore the lie. A life focused on LIFE instead of which way the (in my opinion fictional) cosmic elevator will take us when (if) we die. The abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God that we have already been given. That we already have. That we simply need to receive and release. That we simply need to know and believe in order to experience. Something that doesn't perish. Something incorruptible. Something that lasts. Love.