to http://flyerthanangels.tumblr.com
it's just way more fresher, haha.
the flyest thing:
Jesus said in Matthew 22, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"Kingdom living is all about these two commands. Even Jesus said Himself, "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Love the Lord your God, and love and value your neighbor as you would yourself. Jesus commanded us to become vessels, individuals who grasp the love of God, and then project that back to Him, and then from that place, project it onto the world.
But oh, how far we often fall in doing this! It's really been a message that has just now begun being beaten into the minds and hearts of people at New Philly, and as I continually meditate upon this word, it really is speaking to me about the Father's heart. He wants His kingdom to come on earth as it already exists in heaven, but how often do we get that mixed up. Instead of God's Kingdom coming, we try to implement our own kingdoms, our own rules, our own personal monarchies at the expense of other people.
So often I realize we sacrifice love at the expense of being right. We sacrifice loving on those around us so that we ourselves can instead feel superior, in control, and secure. We sacrifice the Kingdom of God for our own kingdom. We'd rather feel righteous than execute justice. We'd rather be kings of our own dominion than be servants that lift someone else up. And it's largely because our society thinks that one exists at the expense of the other.
We believe that it's impossible to be loved (and love and value ourselves) while also loving and valuing the people around us. That you cannot be both a king and a servant. We view love as a precious commodity that can only be hoarded and harnessed by a select few. Even the Church (actually, primarily the Church) views love as something that only a certain few people can attain and receive. We think that God only loves us. That God has somehow reserved love for the Christians, while the rest of them are just out of luck. That we got the Good News before anyone else, and because we took that step of faith, because of what we did, we're better than them, and well... we'll just leave "those people" to their own devices.
But here's a mindboggling concept: God loves "them" too.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16
So many of us have grown up in homes with parents who failed at showing love to us AND our siblings simultaneously (because our parents, unlike God, are human), and therefore we think that God cannot love multiple people at once, at the same intensity. Not just that, but for some reason we think that God cannot love the bad and the good kids at the same time (really in our flesh we're all bad kids, lol). I'm not falling into a universalist theology (don't worry), I do believe that God will judge both the righteous and the unrighteous, but I do believe that the call for us, which reflects the heart of God, hasn't changed: Love God, and love your neighbor.
God loves each one of us, regardless of our sin against Him. His heart is passionately desiring after each human on this Earth, the sinner and the saint. In each one of us He sees inherent value because we each are made in His image. He loves us, all of us, yet there will come a day in which from that place of love He'll have to judge those who scorned Him. I know that, that is what a righteous and loving God has said would take place. But what I am talking about is where you and I step in. God is calling us to be vessels of His love to all of those we encounter, being vessels of blessing not just for the believer, but for the unbeliever as well.
Imagine the heart of a Father, seeing His children whom He made and loved so much, turning against Him, turning towards pride, religion, debauchery, immorality, murder, war and greed. Imagine being a lovesick bridegroom being crucified with criminals, experiencing shame and dishonor, and not seeing a change in the hearts of those whom You love. Would you not reach out to them? Would you not call out to them for them to return to your love? Would you not call them to remember and see, to open up their eyes?
Jesus said that we are to be His hands and feet on this earth. His representatives. To be the light to the world, salt to the earth as He was. To represent Christ.
The church today in our pride has taken on much of the appearance of Christ without the heart. We have the flesh, the garments, the robes of righteousness, but we lack the inner, more vital organs. We've lost the heart. God is calling us to speak from His heart to a generation, to a people that has given themselves over to destruction, to call them into the Father's love. But not from a place of prideful judgment. Not from a place of "righteousness" that is anything but. Not from a place of high posterity that looks down upon a world filled with lost prodigal sons and tells them how dirty and wretched they are, guilt-tripping them into making decisions that they are not truly willing to follow-through on, but instead by calling out to them from a place of love, of anguished passion and desire, for a hurt and blind generation to awaken to how loved and valued they really are.
And that requires loving on people who don't believe what you believe. That requires understanding that God calls you to love on those who are atheist, agnostic, Muslim, Mormon, JW, Moonie, or whatever ever else not because it makes us feel good, but because He loves them, and He's calling out to them to turn away from destruction, and to turn towards the Father's love.
The establishment of the Kingdom is about seeing love flow onto this earth, as it is in heaven. It's about love to all mankind, seeing His Kingdom come. We're to be lovers of all, blessings to all that we see, that the nations, the world is blessed by our presence.
