Did God Really Say?

The church has for years been known for telling people what they should and shouldn’t do.  In recent years, it seems, that we have embraced more of an atmosphere of freedom.  Religion and rules have given way to an emphasis on relationship.  I love it!  As with anything we embrace, however, there are always extremes.  I’ve been seeing a trend, recently, where believers are choosing sin and calling it freedom.  We’ve decided that grace empowers us to make our own choices, so we can now do whatever we want and call it freedom.  The only problem with this is that grace empowers us to overcome sin not live in it.  As Paul said, all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable.   I believe we’ve missed the point of freedom. 

There were two trees in the garden; the tree of Life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.   Adam and Eve could eat from the Tree of Life at any time but they couldn’t eat from the tree in the center of the garden called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  God had told them that in the day they ate of it they would die.  Well, that day came.  The enemy came to Eve and began to question what God had said.  He said “The Lord knows that in the day you eat of it you will be just like him, knowing good and evil.”  They ate of the fruit of the tree and the result was guilt and shame for their condition, they saw that they were naked, they saw that they were uncovered.  Life is meant to be experienced in relationship to the Father.  He is Life.  When we choose to reduce our lives down to determining what is right and wrong outside of that relationship we are not experiencing life; we are existing.  Our ability to judge right and wrong is limited to our perspective and life experience.  We have access to what God thinks through the Holy Spirit.  1 Corinthians 2 says that the Spirit searches the depths of God and reveals Him to us.  We can see from His perspective, which is unlimited.  Our ability to determine what is right and wrong should flow through our relationship with Him.

Beyond having his perspective, why is this important?  It’s important because our connection to Him allows us to receive His love.  Romans 8:39 tells us that we overwhelmingly conquer through His love.  If we are going to defeat the negative instincts that seek to influence us, we are going to have to learn how to receive His love.  Here are some things that His love does for us…

A.) Love Empowers

 Love restores the standard in our lives.  Love helps us to subordinate our impulses to our values.  When I got married, love created a new value in my life.  I had been seeking to find the right person to spend the rest of my life with.  When I found the right person I made a choice to value her above all others.  That choice revealed the value I had for her.  That choice created a standard in my life.  Jaime was the one for me and it removed all other options.  When we give our lives to Jesus we make a similar choice.  We remove all other options for the one that our soul loves.  Self-Control isn’t saying no to numerous options it’s saying yes to the only one who matters.  The yes that you have for him should eliminate the other options.  The yes that we have for him gives us access to life.  Another example of how love empowers us, is through forgiveness.  Forgiveness is one of the powerful resources we have.   When we forgive we are making a statement that we will not allow what has happened to us to control us.  We are also saying that we will not allow the person who hurt us to control us.  Our desire to hold them accountable places them in control of our lives because we won’t be satisfied until they get what we feel they deserve.  We have no control over that, we only have control over our response.  Forgiveness is powerful because I choose to take my life back and not allow hurt or the person who hurt me to control me.

B.) Love Gives

God is Love.  His greatest demonstration of that love was the gift of His son.  Wealth in the Kingdom isn’t measured by how much you have but by how much you give away.  This is not only a financial truth it operates, physically, emotionally and spiritually as well.  In the kingdom the more you give the more the capacity you have to receive.  Each time you receive you have a greater capacity to give and on and on it goes.  Our ability to receive God’s love should create the motive for ministry, if it doesn’t then I give conditionally.  True love isn’t focused on what it receives but on what it gives away.

C.) Love Destroys Fear

Perfect love cast out all fear.  I would think that Faith would destroy fear but that isn’t the case; Love does.  Fear paralyzes us, Love sets us free.  Fear makes our world small, Love explores impossibilities.  Fear attacks our identity, Love celebrates it.  Fear destroys faith, Love embraces it.   God’s love in our lives and the ability we have to receive it destroys the fears in our lives so that we can pursue our call with confidence.

So how do we receive this Love?  That seems to be our greatest struggle.  We receive love through believing.  The word believe in the greek means to allow.  We allow ourselves to come under the influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  The Holy Spirit’s job is to reveal the love of God to us.  As we allow the truths of God’s love to influence us, we are able to receive His love.  We come to understand that there is nothing we can do to earn his love.  He has freely given it to us and our job is simply to receive it.

How do I know if I’m receiving His love?

The Bible says in Romans 14:17 that the Kingdom is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  Righteousness is a state of being.  We receive righteousness through Christ’s gift.  Peace and Joy are the outflow of that relationship.  I  know I’m receiving His love when peace and joy are the outcome of my beliefs.