We learn and grow. As we begin to understand what we have, and USE what we have. Faith is like a muscle, right? It grows as you use it. Taking baby steps becomes walking on water (walking on the Word). So to finish this Rant series, here's what I want to say: Give yourself (and each other) a break. Don't expect too much of yourself (or each other). Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Liberty, or freedom, to try things. To, again, learn and grow. To fall, and get back up. And if you fall, and you need help to get back up... that's ok. Because we're all in this together. We're all part of the same body of Christ. All different branches on the same vine (or Tree). So, like I said, let's give each other a break. Let's not plant a seed and then immediately dig it up and hollar at it because it isn't producing fruit yet. Let's let things mature in their own times. Rome wasn't built in a day. Which is why I always say, "If you want something different, do something different. Unless you're building something. In which case, stay the course." A mustard seed starts out small, but it grows into the biggest tree. Baby steps are ok. Two steps forward and one step back is ok. Stumbling and messing up is ok. Look at Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." And before we go any further, let me just say: Walking after the Spirit means letting the Spirit lead and guide us. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. And He leads us and guides us INTO all truth. The truth that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. The truth that God is YOUR heavenly Father and YOU are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Walking after the Spirit simply means following your heart. It means walking in love. That's how we experience this abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life that is the gift of God. We experience it by letting Jesus--God in the flesh, love in a body--live HIS OWN life in us, and through us, and as us. And it starts small. I always bring up the cookie story. Where I was at work, and I had a cookie on my desk. And I was literally drooling over that bad boy because I was big time looking forward to eating it. Until a co-woker happened to mention how hungry they were, and how they didn't have a lunch that day. And before I even knew I was doing it--without even thinking about it, because it was simply my nature--I gave my cookie away. Something small, right? Just a cookie? But it was pretty big to my co-worker. And I never forgot it, so it was pretty big to me too. AND, it was a stepping stone. A building block. When its that easy to give away something small, it becomes easier and easier to give away more and more. Which is what love is. Love is giving. So back to my original point: There is NO condemnation in Christ. Mistakes are ok. U-turns are encouraged. You don't have to be society's idea of "perfect" because you have the Perfect One living inside you. And the more He reveals His perfection (or maturity, or perfect LOVE) TO you, the more it comes out THROUGH you. And the seed, that started out so small, begins to grow. And fruit (that lasts) begins to come forth. Because what's inside WILL come out. When you know and believe its in there.

Ok, so I know that I've been focusing on faith as the mustard seed. And, to a little bit lesser extent, the Kingdom of God. But today I want to talk about US as that seed. And there are really two verses that I want to link together to (hopefully) make my point. The first one is 1 Peter 1:23, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." Guys, a seed can only produce after its own kind. That's one of the laws of nature that God established when He created the heaven and earth. An apple seed can only produce apple trees. And apple trees can only produce apples. Our first birth (our natural birth) came from the corruptible seed of Adam and Eve. Which is why when they ate of the tree of death, we died. Which is why we needed a second death, and a new birth. That's what the cross (including Jesus' resurrection) accomplished. And that's how we got off the tree of death and onto (INTO) the Tree of Life. We didn't turn over a new leaf, we got an entirely new tree! Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. Not just life as we knew it, but abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life. Not Adam's life... but Jesus' life! By the word of God. Which is Jesus. Which is love. Love is the difference between life and death. If you know you are loved, you can love. And to live is to love. To love is to live. So if you know you are loved... you can live! Because you are born again. A new creature. A new creation. And remember, if the root is holy, the lump is holy. Jesus, the vine, can only produce after HIS own kind. And we are branches of that vine. That Tree of Life. Which brings me to my second verse: "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" (1 John 3:9). Do you want to know what's funny about this verse? I NEVER hear it preached. Ever. Because most of what we hear at church these days is, "You better stop sinning or else." You know, "Get right or get left." Trying to scare people into whatever our culture thinks "holiness" is. But the truth of the matter is... sinning doesn't mean breaking the Law of Moses. We are not under the Law. We are under grace. Sin is unbelief. As simply as I can put it. And if you're born of God, and that incorruptible seed remains in you, then you cannot sin. Because a believer, by definition, cannot unbelieve. A believer CAN make mistakes. But hopefully he can also learn from those mistakes. More is learned from failure than success, right? And the only TRUE failure is when you fail to try. When you give up. See, maturity isn't about being that old WWF wrestler Mr. Perfect, who never messed up. Maturity is about the just man falling seven times and getting up every time. Loving people no matter what. No matter what mistakes THEY make, OR what mistakes YOU make. And think about this: We can't sin because God's seed remains in us. The incorruptible seed. The seed that always reproduces itself (Himself). So we don't have to worry about our mistakes. We don't have to worry about getting disqualified, or cast out. God swore He would never leave us nor forsake us. So we have the time, and the opportunity to grow. Which is what seeds do. They grow. And then they produce fruit. An incorruptible seed produces fruit that lasts. A love that never fails!

Even something as small as a mustard seed can grow into the biggest tree. Even the smallest baby step of faith can grow into walking on water. The problem, I think, is our microwave, snapshot, gotta have it right this second, mentality. Look, you don't plant a seed and then two minutes later dig it back up and yell at it for not producing fruit. Everything has its time and its season. Rome wasn't built in a day, as they say. Good things take time and good things come to those who wait. That's why patience--believe it or not--is a virtue. Hebrews 10:36 says, "For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise." And what is the will of God? What is the WORK of God? "Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent" (John 6:29). Which, of course, is why God dealt to all men THE measure of faith. God doesn't give us impossible missions. He equips and empowers us with everything we need before He requires anything of us. "And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing" (Luke 22:35). I'm telling you: We have been blessed with all Spiritual blessings in the heavenly Christ. We have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. God wanted us to have Jesus' abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life... so He gave it to us. He gave us His only begotten Son. And His only begotten Son, Jesus, gave His life FOR us... and gave His life TO us. So that we could have it. Did you ever notice in the parable of the sower that the seed... is the Word? And according to Mark 4:26-27, "And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how." We take so much responsibilty on ourselves sometimes. We think we need to produce for God. That's what Cain thought too. But God wanted Abel's sacrifice. God wanted the Lamb. He doesn't want what we can produce. HE is the farmer, and His Word (Jesus, love) is the seed, and it grows all by itself. We don't have to "figure God out." He will reveal Himself to us. And in us. And through us. All we have to do is be open to it. All we have to do is receive and release the gift we've been given. Experience it, by sharing it. Don't try to MAKE it grow, but LET it grow. Don't try to be someone we're not, but let Jesus show us who we really are. By showing us who HE really is IN us. A revelation of Jesus TO you will produce a revealtion of Jesus IN you, and AS you, and THROUGH you. Let me say it like this: The moment was son was born I told him two things. I said, "I've been waiting for you my whole life. I will love you forever." And that's as true now as it was then. But at the same time, every single day I'm amazed at the depths of my love for him. Its like, just when I think I can't love him more... I do. Because the Kingdom of God (the Kingdom of LOVE) is an ever-expanding Kingdom. Love grows as it feeds on itself (Himself). So even if it starts small... don't despise small beginnings. Because seeds grow. Faith grows. LOVE grows. And the fruit that comes--the fruit of the Spirit, which is love--is the only thing that can satisfy humanity's deepest and most powerful appetite.

The important thing about a seed, even one as small as a mustard seed, is that it grows. Jesus said the Kingdom--which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost--is like that mustard seed. So that means that while we start with glory (a seed has everything inside of it that it needs, as long as its placed in the right environment) and we are changed FROM glory TO glory. WE have everything we need, and the maturation process is simply when we begin to understand, and walk in, and experience, what we already have. Let me bring this to my point for today. Faith. Romans 12:3 tells us, "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." THE measure of faith. All the faith we will ever need has already been dealt to us. Given to us. Jesus gave us this faith when He gave us something (someONE, Himself, love) to believe in. Now watch this: "And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you" (Luke 17:6). And I gotta tell you, I've heard this verse preached as, "If you had more faith you could get all manner of things to happen! The reason you don't see any results, much less any miracles, is because you don't have enough faith!" But here's how I see it: Even though the gospels are in the New Testament, when Jesus was preaching it was under the Old Covenant. Because the thing that brought us out of the old and into the new, the thing that gave us THE measure of faith, was the cross. So BEFORE the cross we NEEDED faith. But BECAUSE of the cross we HAVE faith. And just as we saw in the story of Zacchaeus, the tree is question is a sycamore tree. Or a fig tree. Or the tree of knoweldge of good and evil. See, we've been told that we need the kind of faith that can move mountains. But Isaiah 40:4 tells about what JESUS is going to do. And it says, "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain." Let me say it another way: "And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God" (Mark 11:22). Our faith doesn't need to move mountains. It simply needs to be able to pluck up the tree of knowledge of good and evil--the lie that we have to do in order to be--by the root. It simply needs to know and believe the truth. So that we can eat of the Tree of Life instead of the tree of death. Jesus' faith is what matters. Our faith simply connects us to Him. We don't need to do the work, because Jesus already finished it. Jesus didn't say, "Have faith in faith." He said, "Have faith in God." When you believe right everything else falls into place. What you do flows from what you believe. You can't fix behavior from the outside in. No external law can produce lasting change. But you are what you eat. If you change you diet, if you change what believe, if you fix your faith by fixing it on God, then everything else will flow from that. Its a small thing. "Have faith in God." But from there it grows and grows and grows!

A little bit of something goes a long way. And, as you might surmise from the title of this Rant series, we're going to look at how a little bit of FAITH can go a REALLY long way. Matthew 13:31-32 puts it like this, "Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the brids of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof." And here's the point I want to make for today: The seed GROWS. Faith, as they say, is like a muscle; the more you use it, the more it grows. According to Romans 14:17, "...the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." The Kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy. And the Kingdom is like a tiny little seed that grows and grows. It almost seems like we would rather keep trying to get into the Kingdom than believe that we are already in the Kingdom. That we ARE the Kingdom. Because the Kingdom is the realm where the King rules and reigns. Jesus, the King of kings, rules and reigns in us, and through us, and as us. So instead of waiting for something to happen--and using our mistakes and failures to disqualify ourselves--we need to know what already happened. We do not need a move of God. God moved 2,000 years ago on the cross. What we need is a revelation of Jesus. We need to know what happened when God moved. And one of the things that happened is that the Kingdom of Heaven came to earth. Revelation 21:2 says, "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." That's what Deuteronomy 11:21 spoke of when it told of, "...the days of heaven upon the earth." Its not something that needs to happen, its something that already happened. But, again, even though we ARE complete in Him, sometimes it takes baby steps in order to mature. To understand our completeness. So thinking, "If the Kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy... but I'm not feeling particularly righteous, peaceful, or joyful today... so I must not be in the Kingdom..." that's not right. It starts small and grows. Making mistakes doesn't disqualify you. Learning and growing is what the maturation process is all about. And we learn more from our failures than our successes. So if you have a day where joy is severly lacking... that DOES NOT mean you're out of the Kingdom. Its not like plucking flower petals, "He loves me, He loves me not," and hoping to God you end up on "He loves me." Its something that starts small. Finding a little bit of joy in the midst of the mess. And then it grows. Because the Kingdom--righteousness, peace, and joy--is not just what you have. Its who you are. And you are who you are whether you act like it or not. Its knowing and believing who you are (FAITH) that ALLOWS you to act like it. Because what you do flows from what you believe. If the Kingdom has BEEN established (and it has) but it also continues to grow ("Of the increase of his government and peace ther shall be no end..." (Isaiah 9:7)), then you can believe that you ARE compelete in Him, and YOU can also continue to learn and grow. To BE who you are by LEARNING who you are. By learning who JESUS is in you!

It's tough to love someone when they are acting in a way we don't approve of. That, to me, is tough love. But this idea of being mean to someone and calling it "tough love" doesn't really wash with me. One of the basic foundations of love is that it (He) does not demand its (His) own way. There's a song in which the singer rattles off a bunch of things he's done wrong, and then the chorus is: But you love me anyway. That's what love IS. And that's WHO God is. God doesn't just love. He IS love. He loved us when we were in no position to do anything for Him. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). When we were at the end of our rope, and couldn't hold on anymore, what we found is that it has always been God holding on to us! God is a stalker, as one preacher put it. He swore He would never leave us nor forsake us. And I gotta tell you, that kind of devotion is rare. Because its tough to commit to someone like that. Its tough to give everything you have and everything you are without expecting anything in return. But, again, that's what REAL love IS! "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). When we didn't have anything, and couldn't do anything, God gave us everything. And He didn't do it in order to GET something. He did it in order to GIVE us something. For God so loved the world He GAVE His only Son. Christ loved us so much He gave His life FOR us, and He gave His life TO us. Not because of anything we could do for Him, or give to Him. We were yet sinners. DEAD in our trespasses and sins. He gave His life for us and He gave His life to us simply because He wanted us to have it. Jesus came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. And what makes life abundant... is love. What makes life worth living... is love. What makes it POSSIBLE to live... is love. Because to live IS TO love. And to love is to live. Tough love isn't about hanging on too long and hurting instead of helping. And its not about crushing people with heavy expectations. Tough love is loving when its tough. Loving those who seem "unloveable." Giving all you have and all you are. Gladly. Even when it seems like the more you love someone the less they love you. Because getting someone to love you back isn't the goal. That's where we get messed up so many times. We do things for the approval of others. What's that old saying? We buy things we don't need, with money we don't have, in order to impress people who don't care. I'm convinced that the best--the only?--reason you should do something is because its in your heart to do it. Live from the inside out. Because you already are, whether you know it or not. Seek the Kingdom and find out what's in there. What's inside. What in your heart. And then, when you know and believe that the love of God is in there, you can let it out. It will come out. Naturally. And then even when its tough, it'll still be your nature. When the going gets tough the tough get going, right? Well, in our case, when the going gets tough the tough get LOVING! That's what its all about. Being loved by God and loving others with that same love!

Tough love isn't crushing somebody with your expectations. Tough love is loving them even when they don't live up to you-r expectations. Tough love is being tough enough to love people regardless... and being tough enough to let go when holding on will hurt instead of help. Tough love is not forcing someone else to fit into your box. Love does not demand its (HIS) own way. Tough love is understanding that there IS no box. That there ar)e only people. And as similar as we all are when you get right down to the bottom of it... we really are individual snowflakes. We all have different things that make us... us. And what I've found to be one of the "toughest" parts of love is the truth that nothing works for everybody. People receive love differently. So you can't treat everybody the same way, even when you're loving everybody. And that can be tough because everybody GIVES love in different ways. So you need to find what works, on a case by case basis. Let me say it another way, "For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" (1 Corinthians 9:19-22). And that's my thought for today. Loving people means giving all you have and all you are, gladly, without thought of what you GET from all your GIVING. But at the same time, you need to use some wisdom. Be all things to all people. Give people what you have. Yes. You can't give what you don't have. But give people what THEY need. Don't try to FORCE what you have on them. I'm convinced that when you try to shove Jesus down people's throat... people choke on Him. And that's not what we want. We don't want people to run FROM God. We want people to run TO God. Because they see something (someONE, love) that they desperately need. They see a more excellent way. They don't see people who will kick you when you're down. They see people who are right down there with you. People who will help you up when you stumble and fall. And yeah, I get it, that's tough to do sometimes. Especially when we reach out and get our hand slapped away. Especially when we KNOW what's best but someone won't listen. And that's where letting go comes in. We have to let people make their own mistakes, and still love them enough to help them clean up the mess. THAT'S tough love. Loving people when the going GETS tough. Not judging people--and, again, you don't have to condone, or participate in anything you're uncomfortable with. Not being without law to God, but being under the law to Christ. Keeping your own personal integrity. But you also don't have to force that integrity on others. You can't control people. You just can't. And even if you could, it wouldn't be real. If you have to beg someone for something, even if you get it its not worth it. Real change doesn't come from our idea of tough love; forcing it in from the outside. Real change comes from the revelation of what is INSIDE, and that love inside coming out!

The toughest love you can give to someone is when they do something you don't want them to... and you love them anyway. And guess what else: When someone expects you to shove them away, and instead you wrap them up in a loving embrace... that's one of the most power (toughest?) things in the world. I think a lot of the time we rob ourselves of things in life because we are afraid of disappointing people. So we either don't do something, or we hide what we've done. I always say, "It is what it is." Especially if we're talking about our pasts. You can't change that. It happened. And if you hide from it, or try to hide it, instead of just dealing with it and moving on, well, if YOU can't move past it that makes it hard for anyone else to be able to. And when you refuse to let love in (that might make you tough to love) then, like I said, you're robbing yourself of something that's available to you. I think that's what Jesus was talking about in John 10:1, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." Because the sheepfold is the Kingdom, right? When we try to "get into," or experience, the Kingdom any other way than through the door--which is the heart, because the Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of Love--when we try to earn something that can't be earned and look for love in all the wrong places... that's when WE become the thief and the robber. When we rob OURSELVES of what we have been freely given. And when we get down to John 10:10 Jesus says, "The thief cometh not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." We kill ourselves trying to be someone we're not, so that we can get something we think we haven't got. When Jesus wants us to rest in HIS finished work and enjoy the fruit of HIS labor. Because LOVE is what makes the abundant life abundant. And LOVE is the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of Jesus' labor. Not "tough love" that puts demands on us and tries to make us earn it. Not kicking someone when they're down and making them run FROM us (and God) instead of running TO us (and God). Not basing our actions towards people on their actions toward us, but giving them everything we have and everything we are regardless. In Matthew 10:8 Jesus says, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give." And I'm not even talking about those kinds of miracles. I'm simply talking about loving people even when its tough. About reaching out to people even though they've slapped your hand away. Letting people be who they are and loving them anyway. You don't have to agree with someone to love them. And you don't have to condone their actions either. I'm not talking about enabling people when I say you should love them no matter what. Because, as we've seen, sometimes the best thing you can do for everybody involved is to let go. Don't keep banging your head against the wall. Don't go past the point of "helping" to where you start hurting. I know its a fine line. And I know its tough (see what I did there?) to find that balance sometimes. But when you give something all you've got its either enough... or its not. And if its not... then its not. But you did what you could do. And that's all that should ever be expected.

Its not tough to pick on someone weaker than you. And its certainly not love. Its not tough to hang on to something because you feel like you can't let go. And its certainly not love. Those, to me, are the two ways that we use the term "tough love." What has always struck me about that term is that "tough love," in that sense, always looks like one person trying to get their own way. It always looks mean. And we know that love is patient and kind. We know that love doesn't demand its (HIS) own way. So I don't think there's such a thing as tough love in the way that we usually think of it. I think love IS tough though. Becuase love never fails. Because love endures. Think about it: You don't demand your own way. You're patient and kind. And you never give up. THAT'S tough, man. Letting people be who they are and loving them anyway. Giving everything you have and everything you are, and then knowing when to walk away. THAT'S tough. Not giving an eye for an eye--which is easy, but leaves everybody blind--but turning the other cheek. That's tough. I heard a quote one time and it went something like this, "The greatest warrior is the one who lets his sword rust in its scabbard." Basically, just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you HAVE to. All things are lawful for me, but not all things are edifying. It takes more strength to let things go than to get back at people. It takes more strength for forgiveness than revenge. To me, tough love is loving someone even when the going gets tough. Even when its not easy. Its not about putting unrealistic demands on people (and then being disappointed when they inevitably fail to live up to our expectations). Its about letting people be who they are, even when they are doing stuff we don't agree with. Its not about slamming someone because they made a mess. Its about helping them clean it up. And as far as getting to that point where you give it all you've got (which means its either enough... or it isn't) and then walking away... that doesn't mean you slam the door shut and lock it. Because right now is only right now. Most things come to pass, not to stay. People change as they learn and grow and mature. And, yeah, I know from experience, putting yourself out there is a great way to get hurt. Sometimes when you reach out to help someone they slap your hand away. But what if, later on, they come to you for help? Fool me once shame on you? Or should we be tough enough to put ourselves out there again? Jesus had this answer to a similar question: "And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him" (Luke 17:4). That's maturity. That's toughness. Having thick skin. Not letting every little thing bother you. I always say, "Don't take it personally, even if it is." Because you can either build walls... or you can build bridges. And love is the tie that binds. Love doesn't separate, it connects. So even if you had to walk away... God allows u-turns. It says so on my Bible case. My point is, most of the time you get what you pay for. If something is tough... that means its probably worthwhile. So don't overstay your welcome. Don't bang your head against the wall. And don't kick people while they're down. Don't be mean. Be tough. Tough love is the love that doesn't give up, but knows when to back off!

Let's look at this concept for a while. Because the simple fact is: You can't do everything. And neither can I. You can't reach everybody. And neither can I. You can't help everybody. And neither can I. And sometimes you do more damage by holding on than by letting go. Think about grabbing a rope. The harder you squeeze, the more you hurt your own hand. And the harder you pull... well... you just might snap the rope. So sometimes, even when its the hardest thing to do, you have to let go. You have to let people walk away, if that's what they want to do. Because people are going to do what THEY want to do whether YOU want them to or not. And sometimes YOU have to walk away. Because once you've given something everything you've got, its either enough... or it isn't. If its enough, great. And if it isn't, well, that's something you just have to learn to accept. I quoted this verse a few days ago but I want to use it again here: "And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city" (Mark 6:11). And in the Message Bible, "If you're not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw. Don't make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way." Do what you can do. But don't bang your head against the wall. All you'll end up with is a headache. I think that's one type of "tough love." When you STOP. And I don't mean you stop loving. Because when you know who you are--Jesus, God in the flesh, love in a body--you can't stop loving. When you know who you are love isn't just what you do, its literally who you are. I just mean there comes a time when, despite your best efforts, you end up hurting instead of helping. And like I said, over the next few days I really want to look at this concept. But I think there's another kind of "tough love" too. Which is where we DON'T stop. Where we think we know best and won't accept anything else. I love the verse in Proverbs 22:6 that says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." I've tried to incorporate that into how I rasie my son. Specifically, training him up in the way he SHOULD go. Telling him what's RIGHT with him instead of what's wrong with him. Because I think its easier to build something from scratch than to fix something that's broken. So I tell him things like, "You're better than that." I try not to, well, be too tough on him. Or go to hard on him. I have high expectations, yes. Because I think he's capable of meeting them. But when my kid is tired... I try to cut him some slack. Because he's just a little guy. And when he gets tired he gets cranky. Just like his daddy. I see myself in him, in that way, big time. So instead of pushing and pushing and pushing--and then calling it tough love--I give a little. Remember (and this is critically important) love does not demand its (HIS) own way. God is love. God is Spirit. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Love gives us the room to learn and grow. To be who we are as we learn who we are. Its ok to be meek. Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is strength under control. You can be a tough guy without proving it on those who are weaker than you. And you can love people even if they don't meet your expectations.