From Bankruptcy to Riches

I can’t give what I don’t have.

I can’t have unless I receive.  

Jesus’ cousin John AKA the Baptist said once that a man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.  John 3:27

I can’t receive anything unless it has been given me from heaven.

This is a game changer for all of us. This puts each of us in a place of have-nothings, empty-handed receivers. Heavenly beggars. It's not about what you and I can manufacture on our own. What you and I can clobber together relying on our own wits and wisdom. 

This is wonderfully liberating for both you and me.  I can't expect you to give me what you don't have.  You can't demand that I give you what I don't possess. 

We must first receive before we are able to give.  

We can’t love unless we know we are loved.

We love because He first loved us. I John 4:19

My problems begin when I try, try so hard, to love before receiving God’s amazing love for me.  I must receive His love first, before I am able to give it away - a modest reflection of His free, unconditional, joyful, no strings, no chain-links attached, simple, unadulterated love.

Some of us have a very hard time receiving.  We don't want to be indebted. We don't want to owe anything to anyone.  Including God. 

 

But, if I don’t receive and keep receiving this heavenly love, the ‘love’ I give will inevitably become tainted by self-interest or pride or both. My "love" becomes a commodity that allows me to get something in return on the bustling world love market. It becomes denomination with purchasing power so I can afford my worth, earning me the credentials to breathe the air and occupy space on this earth. 

But is that really love?

And if it isn't, what is?  What is this God-kind-of-LOVE I must receive before I am able to begin spelling l-o-v-e with the alphabet of my own life? 

This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God. I John 4:10