Apples and Trees part 3
When we know where we came from, we know who we are. In the natural that can be good, or bad, or probably a bit of both. But in the Spiritual knowing where we came from means knowing that we come from God. From love. Look at John 1:3, "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." All things were made by love. And, by the way, all things were made FOR love. YOU were made for love. That's where you came from, that's why you're here. Love is your roots. Love is the incorruptible seed. A life of love--being loved by God and loving others with that same love--is the eternal, everlasting, abundant, Resurrection Life of God! That is the life that lasts forever. Because love lasts forever. When God made things, in the beginning, in the garden of Eden, everything He made was good. He doesn't make mistakes. Love doesn't make mistakes. YOU are not a mistake, in other words. You were made for purpose, by purpose, and on purpose. Made in the image and likeness of God. In the image and likeness of LOVE. And then, better still, CONFORMED to image of God's beloved Son. Made in His image, but not knowing what that image was. Not knowing what love was. Until, on the cross, the light of the world shined. The light shined on us, and in us. Because we are that light. And, interestingly enough, Jesus identified us as the light of the world--the same light that He is--BEFORE the cross. The cross was the revelation of Jesus. The revelation of love. The love that we have always had. The love that we have always been. Apples and Trees. The DNA (Divine Nature of the Almighty) of our Father. What's in His heart--love--running through our veins. Because His heart beats with love in our chests. As He is, so are we in this world. Jesus said, "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30). We are in Him because He is in us. We are in Christ because Christ is in us. We are in love because love is in us. The key, as I was trying to say at the beginning of this Rant series, is knowing. Knowing and believing. When you know and believe that you are loved, that's when (and how) you CAN love. Because you can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. What you know you do have. Because you can't believe something that you don't know. That's why I say, "Knowing and believing." Look at 1 John 4:16, "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God--which is Jesus, which is love. Our faith IN love (faith in God) comes from hearing God say, "I love you." And, believe it or not, we heart it from each other. His heart beats in our chests, and His Word comes out of our mouths. His Word comes out in our actions. Charity... love in action. The Word made flesh. God loving us and then that love filling us to overflowing and coming out through us!