Here, monks, a disciple dwells pervading one direction with his heart filled with loving-kindness, likewise the second, the third, and the fourth direction; so above, below and around; he dwells pervading the entire world everywhere and equally with his heart filled with loving-kindness, abundant, grown great, measureless, free from enmity and free from distress.
~ The Buddha, Digha Nikaya 13
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am The Way, and The Truth, and The Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My Name, I will do it.”
~ Jesus, King of The Universe, in John 14
Oh beloved, it is true. The heart of the old man we were is that which would shrink and fail. It is within us. It is inside the system of our flesh. The brain is in charge, and connected to it are all of the things that would and could and do make us fail.
Life is bigger. Much bigger.
We spit
we fret
we hate
we worry
we doubt
we rage
we fall
we fear
we fear
we fear
we stomp
we rant
we love all of it too… We sit within our tiny little teapots of a frame and act out all of our tempestuous tantrums.
But the problem is, every time we do, any of the tiny little wisp of steam we had within us, escapes. We get smaller and smaller – and more alone. Really, we are thinking that if we could just get someone to see the emptiness inside us, and to give us a little bit of their steam, we might be able to make it through another day.
It never works. We are shrinking. And there is absolutely no way out of the conundrum we have created for ourselves. Everything we do has a rapidly diminishing rate of return. We have to be filled – or we are going to die. Actually, we are already dead, but the further death is something we know we will experience forever, if we don’t find a way.
And There is The Way.
He is Life. He is Love. He is Freedom. He is beyond containment and measure and any other words we might try to say about Him. Actually, as many wiser men have said, anything we conceive Him to be – He is not. Any words we use to explain Him, really only serve as negative relief to the exceedingly abundantly overflowingness of Who He Is.
He was (and is, and will be) the only Real Man. He showed us what it is to truly live. And it is a Life that is completely other than we have been trying to live in the past. It has nothing to do with behavior or need or law or even our own desires. It is a Life that is Lived through us. But, even this idea of life flowing through us can deceive us, unless we understand who we really are.
Jesus of Nazareth, lived Life in The Spirit. Life was not contained to His frame. His Life was The Very Author of Life – and this Life is not contained. Now, surely this One is very G_d of very G_d, and so the Life of Jesus is – again – something that cannot be described with words. But The Word He is, is something our lives can now be very much like.
Can we see it? As believers, we are no longer chained inside the organ system called our epidermis. We are present in true proximity to our “tent,” but our lives now have the capacity to be (really) nearly infinitely larger than our physical frame. Our spirit can live as large as we allow it to grow in Christ. And this Life has no bounds.
We now swallow death
our presence brings comfort
we Live in Love
our unconcern about circumstance brings comfort to others
our calmness calms others storms
our standing in Christ serves as a pillar for others
we are free
our freedom frees others
our freedom only grows
our freedom stamps out bondage
our words now increase the Life in others
And we now Love this Life too as it bursts beyond the bounds of time, and even space.
It is the Life we have ever desired, but could not get.
So, are you feeling trapped inside your life? This is completely unnecessary. Just look to Jesus. Yes, look at what Jesus did. But, exceedingly, abundantly more look at HOW He Lived. He lived IN His Father – and He allowed that Life to flow around Him and through Him and to grow Himself larger than the life of any man that has ever walked the earth.
And, oh by the way… did you read the passage beloved? His Life is yours, and it will be even bigger than His was on this earth – IF you allow it. Tonight is your night. Time to Live large.
