If you want someone to see something, you ought to show it to them. I know that sounds simple, but it amazes me how quickly and easily the "church world" loses the simplicity that is in Christ. The simplicity that IS Christ. Jesus: God in the flesh. Love in a body. It really is that simple. And if we want people to stop running FROM God and start running TO God, wouldn't it behoove us to show people a more excellent way? When I was trying to explain to Logan the logic in the saying, "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar," he looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Why would you want to CATCH a fly???" But Logan logic aside, the truth of the matter is that people aren't going to give the gospel the time of day unless and until the gospel has something to offer. If people see "religion" as nothing more than a ball and chain that they have to drag around... if they see it as worse than what they've already got... then why would they want anything to do with it? That's why I think Romans 2:4 is so important: "Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" It's not the scariness of God that leads to repentance. People run from scary things. If all we have to offer is a mean, angry, scary God... guys... that's not even something I want anything to do with. Who would? Look at Romans 2:4 in the NLT, "Don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?" In order to show people God we have to show them love. We have to show how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient He is by showing people how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient WE are. Because we are God's expression. We are the visible face of the invisible God. We are how He expresses Himself. And since He IS love, that's what He expresses. All of the time. Love isn't just what God does. Love is who God is. Just as Jesus is the Word of God--God has only ever said one thing. He said, "Let there be light." He said, "I love you." And then that Word--Jesus, love--became flesh. And dwelt among us. And then, through the cross, that Word--Jesus, love--took up abode IN us. Not just God WITH us, but God WITHIN us. And when we know that God is IN us, that's when He comes OUT of us. That's when He comes THROUGH us. That's when we can express Him, by expressing love. We love because He first loved us. We love Him by loving each other. But it all comes down from the Father of lights. It all starts (and ends) with God. We are His witnesses in the earth. And a witness testifies what he has seen and heard. He shows people what he has experienced. He receives the love of God--by guarding his heart and keeping it open to love--and then he releases that love. That's what people need. And that's what we have. So that's what we ought to give them. That's the New Commandment. And that's how we experience love. By showing it. By sharing it. By giving it away. That's what love is; love is giving. If you know it, throw it. If you have it inside, let it out. People will run to that. I know they will. Because that is what everybody needs. Show it, and grow it!

The only way to truly show someone God is to show them Jesus. You know, God in the flesh. Love in a body. What I'm trying to say is: The ONLY way to show someone God is to show them LOVE. And we do THAT, by holding tightly to Him. With the understanding that HE is holding tightly to us and will never let us go. With the understanding that whatever we do to the least of them, we do unto Him. I think it's one of the Kung Fu Panda movies that says, "The more you take, the less you have." And that could not be more true than it is in the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of Love. Because when it comes to love, it's not about getting--CERTAINLY not about taking--it's about giving. We have been given everything. The keys to the Kingdom. Because we have been given the King. We don't just live IN the Kingdom, we ARE the Kingdom. Because the King lives in us. And through us. And as us. Let me quote my verse for today. And I have Ranted extensively on this before but it fits right here. And you know the old saying, "If it fits... it sits." So look at Isaiah 43:21, "This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise." And the funny thing about praise is... praise is the RESULT of something. We don't praise Him in order to get Him to move. He already moved 2,000 years ago on an old rugged cross. We praise Him because His move was praiseworthy. I know the Kingdom is upside down and backwards--the first shall be last and the last first, for example--but I also think we HAVE a lot of it backwards. Like how we're always waiting for a move of God when He already moved. Like how we're always waiting for God to do something, when HE'S waiting for US to do something! He equipped and empowered us to show His love to people by loving us. By filling us to overflowing with His love. He formed us--fearfully and wonderfully--so that we could show (or shew) forth His praise. So that we could be witnesses among men. And you know what a witness does, right? He testifies what he has seen and heard. What he has experienced. That's why the New Commandment (for a New Man) is to love one another AS Jesus has loved you. You aren't expected to produce anything. God didn't want what Cain's hands could produce. He wanted the Lamb. You are simply expected to receive and release the gift of God. To let God love you, and to love each other with that love. To know that what He has done is worthy of praise, and then to let that praise be your natural reaction. Praise isn't about what's going to happen. It's about what has already happened. (And I know God knows the end from the beginning, and His timing is always perfect because He's a right now God. I'm simply saying, even when you praise Him and believe for something that hasn't manifested yet... there's a difference between trying to get something, and receiving something.) We were put on this earth, we were literally created, to be the visible expression of an invisible God. And that God is love. So in order to express Him we must show love. Just as HE has shown it to us. Love as we are loved. Guard our hearts--by keeping them OPEN to love--and let what's inside come out by filling ourselves to overflowing with what we've been filled with. Not telling people about God, but SHOWING people who He is. By showing them what love is. By loving them. That's how we love God; by loving each other!

Today I want to focus on something that I think we really misunderstand. And that is the relationship between Creator and creation. We seem to think that in order to show love, we have to PROVE our love. Like Peter when he swore up and down that he would never deny Jesus. Well, we all know how that turned out. He ended up denying Jesus three times. See, it's like we think we have to hold onto God. As if He's trying to get away or something. When in fact, the exact opposite is true. In the garden of Eden it was MAN who hid from the presence of God. And it was God who swore to never leave us nor forsake us. We think we need to hold onto Him... when really it is God (love) who will never let us go! Look at our key verse from this Rant series: "Be careful to obey all these commands I am giving you. Show love to the LORD your God by walking in his ways and holding tightly to him" (Deuteronomy 11:22 NLT). Which seems to say the opposite of what I'M trying to say. Seems to. Because when we look at the Old Testament cross-eyed we see Jesus in every verse. We see LOVE in every verse. Holding tightly to God... is holding tightly to love. And the way you hold love tight... is by giving it away. Because love IS giving. In order to experience the love of God we must receive it AND release it. We must let His perfect love cast out all fear. The fear of losing what we've got. Or the fear that what we have to give isn't good enough. Or whatever other fear we can think of. We can let those fears go. Because--and I think Princess Leia said it best in Star Wars--the tighter we grip, the more it slips through our fingers. The more we focus on how much we love God... the more we miss how much HE loves us. And THAT is the point. When God was in Christ on the cross, reconciling the world to Himself, He brought us back to our first love. Which is HIS love. We love, because He first loved us. The focus can't be on ourselves. It must be on Him. That's the difference between being self-centered, and Christ-centered. And with the understanding that we love God BY loving each other, we begin to see that being Christ-centered is being people-centered. So holding tightly to Him really means holding tightly to each other! And not in the sense of being clingly, or trying to restrict others. Not in the sense of trying to control others. But in the sense of, "It's ok. I've got you. And I won't let go. Even if you stumble, even if you fall, I'm right here with you." It's not about condemning people, or piling on. It's not about kicking people when they're down. It's about showing love. Unconditional love. The kind of love that makes people run TO it--run to GOD--instead of running FROM it. It sickens me that people have such a negative attitude about church. But at the same time... I get it. Because we haven't done a very good job of making the church inviting. We seem a lot more willing to cast people out than to actually accept them. And when we judge other people for doing the same things we're doing... then it doesn't surprise me that "Christians" have gained quite the reputation as hypocrites. We need to show love. We need to hold tight to each other, even while we give each other room to learn and grow. We need to stop thinking that we have to hold on to God or we'll lose Him. And we need to realize that He will NEVER let us go!

We show God by showing love. Because God IS love. The best way to "preach" the Gospel is by loving the hell out of people. And, in fact, that's what we were created to do. We are the visible expression of the invisible God. Who is, again, love. That's why I like the way the Apostle Paul uses the word "charity" so much. Charity is love is action. We are God's expression of love. His love letter to the world. Look at John 1:14, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." Notice two things: 1. The Word was made flesh. Love was put into action. For God so loved the world, He GAVE His only begotten Son. Love isn't just an idea. It isn't just a Word. It is so much more than that. It is God Himself wrapping Himself in human flesh and laying His life down for His friends. That's how the NLT puts it: "So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son." A human full of unfailing love and faithfulness. That's who Jesus was, and that's who Jesus is... in us. That's who we are. WE are the one's that God loves, and because He first loved us, we can love Him by loving one another! And the second thing to notice: When the Word was made flesh, or put into action in the form of a human loving other humans, we beheld His glory. He showed us who He is... by loving us. And He showed us who we are... by loving us. And He showed us how to love... by loving us. Remember our verse from yesterday? "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another" (1 John 4:11). We are His expression. The love comes from Him. He is the Vine, and we are the branches. We don't produce the love through our works and labor. We simply bear the love that He has given us. The love that He IS. The love that WE are! We simply receive it and release it. We simply partake of the fruit of HIS labor--the fruit of the Spirit, which is love... the fruit of the Tree of Life--and share it with those we come into contact with. I'm telling you, the best way (the ONLY way) to show people God is to show them love. Because that's who God is. That's not just what God does. That's His very nature. And He gave that love nature to us when He gave His Holy Spirit to us. When He gave the Kingdom of God (the Kingdom of Love), which is righteouesness, peace, and joy IN the Holy Ghost, to us. When He gave His very LIFE to us. Jesus gave His life FOR us, and He gave His life TO us. So that we could have it. And so that we could then give it FOR each other, and TO each other. That's the greatest expression of love you can have--laying your life down for your friends. That's what Jesus did on the cross. And that's not just what we OUGHT to do for each other, that's what we now CAN do for each other. We can put love into action. We can give everything we are and everything we have. Not in order to get something, but because we have something. Something that the world desperately needs. And if we have it, but don't give it away, how is the world supposed to get it? It's a gift. It can't be earned. It must be given, and it must be received. It must be seen... because it must be shown!

Here's my thought for this Rant series: We are the visible expression of an invisible God. We are the house He lives in. When He does something, He does it in us, and through us, and as us. Basically, "For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring" (Acts 17:28). And, of course, the opposite is true. In US HE lives, and moves, and has HIS being. That's what it means to be in Christ; it means that Christ is in us. That's what it means to be Jesus--God in the flesh, love in a body. God is in OUR flesh. Love is in OUR body. Because that's who God is. He is love. That's not just what He does. That's WHO He is. That's His nature. Which means that's OUR nature. The new nature of the New Man. If any man is in Christ, he's a new creature, right? Because if any man is in Christ that means Christ is in him. And, again, I believe this is true for every man. Because when Jesus was lifted up from the earth on the cross He drew all men into Himself. But while something might be true, it's the truth you KNOW and BELIEVE that sets you free and makes you free. So even though the truth is true for everyone, not everyone experiences that truth. And that's where we come in. Look at 1 John 4:11, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." That, as simply as I can put it, is the gospel. We ARE loved, so we CAN love. That's the New Commandment that Jesus spoke of in John 13:34, "A new commanmdent I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." Love... as you are loved. It's that simple. (And notice I didn't say "it's that easy." Because sometimes people are hard to love. Which, of course, means they need love the most because they aren't getting it anywhere.) My point for today, and really the next couple of days, is found in Deuteronomy 11:22 in the NLT: "Be careful to obey all these commands I am giving you. Show love to the LORD your God by walking in his ways and holding tightly to him." Now, listen, I know this Old Testament verse was specifically speaking to those people at that time and referring to the Old Covenant. The Law of Moses. I get that. But when you read the Bible you have to read it cross-eyed. Through the light of the finished work. So when I see this what I see is a "command" to follow the NEW COMMANDMENT. I see God showing us HOW to do that. By walking in His ways--and Jesus IS the way... LOVE is the way--and holding tightly to Him. That's how we show love to God. By showing it to others. That's how we show God Himself to others. Not by shoving rules and regulations down people's throats. Not by hitting people over the head with the Bible and condemning them (literally) to death. Not by scaring people straight. Because when you scare someone they run FROM you instead of running TO you. And that's the opposite of what we want. It is the GOODNESS of God that leads men to repentance. It is showing someone something BETTER than what they have--a more excellent way--that we can help them to partake of what WE have. We are God's expression. And He is love. We were created to be loved, and to love each other with that same love. We are God's love letter to the world. We are here, on this earth, in this time, to show love!

In the beginning (man, I love that phrase) when God created something, the Bible always says, "And it was good." Because God doesn't make mistakes. He didn't accidentally create anything. And that goes double for His most prized possession... His greatest creation... us. Psalm 139:14 says it like this, "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well." We were hand crafted by the Master Carpenter. In other words, you are the way you are for a reason. The true journey of life is not to be someone you're not, but to truly KNOW who you are. To accept yourself. To BE yourself. But the problem is--in the beginning it was all good, remember?--the problem is that we let everything and anything else define us. We listen to what the world is shouting at us instead of listening to the still, small voice of truth deep inside. We let what's inside get buried by... stuff. We let hurts (both real and imagined) change us. We try so hard to conform to the world. And the old question is: Why are you trying so hard to fit in, when you were made to stand out? Why are you trying to be someone else when you are so wonderful? When God created man the Bible puts an extra little stamp on it, "And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good..." (Genesis 1:31). I'm trying to tell you it's ALL GOOD. It's VERY good. But up until the appointed time (which was 2,000 years ago on an old rugged cross) it was too dark to see. Everything was doom and gloom. We wanted so badly to leave all this behind and get to heaven. The plot twist was the Jesus brought heaven to earth! He didn't come to destroy the world. He came to save it. Because God so loved the world. God wasn't willing to give up on His creation. In fact and in truth He decided He would literally rather die than be without it. Rather die than be without US. So He was in Christ on the cross, reconciling us back to Himself. Restoring things back to the way they were in the beginning. By letting His light shine so that we could see things clearly. So that we might partake of the divine nature that we already have. So that we might be who we really are. Because who we are in Christ is who Christ is in us. That's what He came to show us; that Jesus is God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. He came to redeem us. To restore us. To bring us back to our first love. We spent a lot of time--WASTED a lot of time--looking for love in all the wrong places. But then Jesus came to us and said, "I am come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly." And what makes life abundant? Love! He came to us and showed us what we were looking for. And not only showed us, but GAVE us what we were looking for. Because He IS love. He is the source. The vine. And we are the branches that are connected to Him. We don't earn love. Or produce love. We simply bear it. We simply partake of it, and share it. Because when God restored relationship between Creator and creation, He also restored relationship between creation and creation. He reconnected us with each other. Through the unbreakable bond of love. So that not just the world, and not just you or me as an individual has been restored. But ALL of us. Together. Everything. The Messianic rebirth of the world took something that WE had broken, and put it back to together again. Hurting people hurt people. But loved people love people. Guys... the love has been restored!

One of the biggest things Jesus came to do was to restore things. To bring it--all of creation, including you and me--back to how it was originally intended to be. He did so by dying, and rising again. The Messianic rebirth of the world. The new birth of a New Man. And when that New Man (the Son(s) of God) manfiests, all of creation will stop groaning and everything will be revealed to be in Divine Order. And I didn't say everything will be PUT into Divine Order. Because that already happened. That's a done deal. God established His Kingdom of Love when He gave us His only begotten Son. When He gave us the King of kings. Look at 2 Peter 1:4 in the NLT, "And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires." The KJV says, "partake of the divine nature." And I think that's the key. I think that's so important. Because the truth of the matter is: We HAVE the divine nature. The new nature of love that goes along with being a new creature in Christ. But it's the old idea of LETTING the mind of Christ (that's already in us) BE in us. It's the idea of RECEIVING the gift we've been given by RELEASING the gift. By giving it away. By sharing it. When God restored us--and everything else--He gave us everything we would ever need to be whole. Remember the man with the withered hand? His hand was restored. God didn't just hit a reset button and say, "You screwed up last time, better luck this time." No... He gave us His Son. We don't live Jesus' life by trying really hard to act like what our culture thinks a "good Christian" should act like. We live Jesus' life by letting HIM live it in us, and through us, and as us. A life of works and labor (which don't work) was replaced by a life of rest. Back to the way it was supposed to be when God put man in the midst of the garden (a finished work), and told him to keep the garden. Because, remember now, rest is NOT inactivity. Rest is Holy Spirit directed activity. Rest is what's inside coming out. Naturally. As you fill yourself with it and it flows out. That's why it's so important that we understand how God loves us, instead of always focusing on how we love Him. We love Him (by loving each other) because He FIRST loved us. His love is our first love. And we may have left our first love, but He brought us back to it. Back to Himself. He was lifted up from the earth on the cross, and He drew us all into Himself. God was in Christ reconciling us to Himself. Restoring what (we thought) was missing. That's what the Holy Spirit is all about. The Holy Spirit doesn't tell us what's wrong with us. He tells us what's RIGHT with us, by telling us what's right with Jesus! Who we are in Christ is who Christ is in us. So when we're talking about restoration, it's not something that needs to HAPPEN. It's something we need to partake of. Jesus prepared a table for us in the midst of our enemies. A six-course meal called the Six Steps to the Throne. And the Spirit and the bride say come and get it. Jesus stands at the door and knocks. He has given us everything we need. He has given us Himself. He has redeemed us. And restored us!

When I started this Rant series, the verse I kind of had in mind was Joel 2:25, "And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you." But more specifically, the idea of God restoring our wasted years. Because, I know at 32 I'm not OLD (my pastor always says you don't even know what tired is until you hit 40), but I still feel like there was a lot of time spent on a lot of things that didn't amount to much. "Call my youth misspent" as the old movie quote goes. So I have always linked Joel 2:25 with Job 33:24-25, "Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child's: he shall return to the days of his youth." Which, of course, is exactly what happened on the cross. Jesus referred to Himself as the ransom in Matthew 20:28, and 1 Timothy 2:6 says, "Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." I like it even better in the NLT, "He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time." Freedom. Even from the mistakes of our past. From the years that the locust has eaten. From all the time we may have wasted. (And just to say, I don't think it is ALL wasted time. Because if you're doing something you enjoy, it's not really a waste. There are lots of different ways to be productive. I'm simply talking about the things that didn't work out, like that. But even then... if you learn from your mistakes they were worth making. A lot of the time you have to do something wrong before you can do it right. That's called learning and growing.) Freedom. Which goes two ways: Freedom FROM the bondage of sin and death. And freedom TO live and love. Yesterday we saw that the cross was God reconciling us back to Himself. Bringing us back to our first love. Which is... love. HIS love. Today I want to focus on what I truly believe is one of the effects of love: Eternal youth. Eternal life, but not in the sense of getting older and older and things falling apart all the time. But being BORN AGAIN. Getting a fresh start. God allows U-turns. And in fact, I think He encourages them. He doesn't want us to suffer. What father would? He wants us to flourish. He wanted the best for us, so He gave the best TO us. He gave us His only begotten Son so that we might know ourselves AS His beloved Son(s) in whom He is well pleased. So that WE might be restored. And so that WE might restore all of creation. Creation is groaning for the manifestation of the Son(s) of God. Jesus brought heaven to earth. He restored creation back to what it was supposed to be through the cross. Through the Messianic rebirth of the world. And now that we know and believe that the restoration HAS taken place... we can stop waiting for it to happen. We can stop suffering with the effects of age (and all of the stuff that came with those years), and we can begin to walk in newness of life. We can begin to enjoy the gift that we've been given. Eternal life. Knowing the one true God and the One whom He sent. Knowing God and knowing ourselves. Our TRUE selves. Because WE have been restored!

Jesus came to restore creation to the way it was in the beginning. He came to bring heaven to earth. Because, as we see in Revelation 2:4, "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love." And, just for the record, our FIRST love is HIS love. "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). And, as we see in the NLT, "We love each other because he loved us first." We love Him BY loving each other. Because He first loved us. That's the first love that we left, when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (the tree of death) and then hid from the presence of God. We left a finished work and entered into a man-centered, performance-based religion. That was a problem. But Jesus is the solution. Jesus--God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. He came to bring us back to our first love. Look at 2 Corinthians 5:19 in the NLT, "For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation." Jesus, the Lamb of God, took away the sin of the world. The unbelief of the world. He defeated the lie that says you have to do in order to be by showing us who we really be. By showing us who HE really is. He defeated the lie by shining His light and telling us (and showing us) the truth. Showing us how things really are. Showing us that God is love. That God is our heavenly Father and we are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Jesus came to reconcile us back to God. Back to love. Not by scaring us straight with the threat of punishment, but by loving the hell out of us. It is the GOODNESS of God that leads us to repentance. And the repentance that the Bible talks about in Hebrews chapter six is repentance from DEAD WORKS. Repenting (or changing our minds) about trying to earn something that can't be earned. The lie that says you have to do in order to be was defeated by the truth of who you already be. So we don't have to try to be somebody we're not. And we don't have to try to get something we haven't got. Everything we thought we were lacking has been restored because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. We have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. We have been blessed with all Spiritual blessings. We have returned to our first love. Which is... love! I've Ranted and preached about this at length, but when we see the admonition in Proverbs 4:23 to, "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life," what we need to understand is that we don't guard our hearts by shutting them down. We guard our hearts by keeping them open! Keeping them open to LOVE. Not building walls to keep people out, but building bridges to let people in. Building connections. Relationships. Not isolating ourselves (or others) but restoring that perfect balance in which we understand that we are all parts (albiet very different parts) of the same body. We ARE all connected. So we need to stop with the idea of separation. We have been reconciled, to God, and to each other. The love has been restored!

I want to focus on something very important for this Rant series. One of the (many) things that Jesus came to do on His earth walk, and completely finished in His death, burial, and resurrection--also known as the cross. I want to focus on the idea of restoration. And really, there's no better way to say it than this, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). The days of heaven on earth, as Deuteronomy 11:21 puts it. Because that's how things were in the beginning. The garden of Eden was the paradise of God. The finished work. And when you fast forward to Revelation you see New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. You see a return to what was God's original plan. Because Jesus was never Plan B. He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. God knew what man was all about--He created man after all. And He knew what He was going to do. Romans 5:18-19 in the MSG Bible puts it like this, "Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right." And Matthew 19:28 in the Amplified Bible refers to the cross as the Messianic rebirth of the world. When the consuming fire that is God burned away everything except Himself. Everything except love. Purifiying us even as He melted our hearts. Returning us to the way it was in the beginning when the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and then, taking it a step further, the Word took up abode WITHIN us. At the appointed time, 2,000 years ago, Jesus came to put things right. To restore things. In earth, as it is in heaven. He brought heaven to earth. He put things in Divine Order. And He did it on a very personal level. In Mark chapter 3 there is a man with a withered hand. (Which can, of course, refer to the state of the five-fold ministry when we get caught up in religion. Balling up the fist, or using it as a backhand instead of extending the hand to help people up when they're down. But that's a whole different Rant.) Look at verse 5, "And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other." Jesus restored the man's hand. Regardless--in fact, in the face of--any religious traditions. Because that's who Jesus is. He is our Redeemer. He is the restorer. And He didn't make a big deal out of the healing either. He came to set things right, so all He did was tell the man to stretch out his hand. (And there's a lot to be said about God stretching us, but, again, I digress.) The point is, from heaven's point of view, there was nothing wrong with the hand. It was withered, but it just needed to be stretched out. Things needed to be put right. Things needed to be REVEALED as they really are. And that's what happens when the light shines--we can see things as they really are. We can see things clearly. And then we can see that we HAVE the Divine Nature, we simply need to partake of it. Things ARE in Divine Order, we simply need to see it that way!