You can’t say you are giving and loving and make anyone believe it, unless you demonstrate that giving.\u00a0It is by your works that you are known, not by your intentions…Loving is active.\u00a0Loving is giving the God that lives within you to the God that lives within all people everywhere. Loving is sharing yourself.<\/em> – John-Roger<\/p>\n This article by John-Roger was originally published in the Movement Newspaper, December 1979.<\/strong><\/p>\n We celebrate Christmas each year and very appropriately so.\u00a0 We celebrate Christmas because of that one who brought forward the Christ energy 2,000 years ago and who brought from within his consciousness the gift of the Father, which is the gift of the Christ within–our most precious heritage.\u00a0 No one on this planet should be excluded from that inheritance.\u00a0 It belongs to all mankind.<\/p>\n The Bible teaches us that, whatever the situation or circumstance, you can ask, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and it will be done.\u00a0 His grace extends to all…regardless of any outer situation.\u00a0 The Bible doesn’t say that you have to belong to any particular church or live in any particular location or wear any certain type of clothes or anything.\u00a0 The Bible says the grace of the Lord is available anywhere, anytime, in any situation.<\/p>\n At Christmas time we often get very preoccupied with the giving and receiving of presents…and that can be very truly giving.\u00a0 There is a difference between giving a present to someone and giving that person this gift of your giving, which is the gift of your loving heart.\u00a0 And there is a difference between getting a present from someone and giving that person the gift of receiving their loving heart.\u00a0 Too often you awaken to Christmas morning and package-opening time, and you look at what they got.\u00a0 And you start lining up your energy of how Mom or Dad loves you in comparison to how they love the others.\u00a0 And you determine and evaluate their love based upon the gifts they give…and that is certainly a questionable approach.\u00a0 If you are an adult, you may still find yourself weighing the value of the gift somehow in your mind and equating it with the giver’s love for you.\u00a0 You sell yourself short if you do that…and you sell them short.<\/p>\n Sometimes I find myself looking at gifts that way, too; and then it’s a challenge for me to move beyond that consideration and say, \u201cWait a minute! What was the heart of this giver feeling and experiencing when they got this gift for me?\u201d\u00a0 I hold their gift in my hand and a lot of things come to mind: sometimes I see the store that they bought the gift in and I see who they talked to and who they bought it from; and I can pick up conversations and know the loving that went into the choice of the gift.\u00a0 But mostly I feel the warmth of the loving that was present with them as they traveled and searched to find this unique item to present to me as part of their gift of giving.<\/p>\n I look at the gift as an extension of their heart and I don’t come close to valuing the gift as much as I value this heart of the giver.\u00a0 My heart just floods over with the loving and the support that I am given.\u00a0 Then I look back inside of me and think, \u201cGood God, what is it within me that urges the giver inside of them to give to me?\u201d \u00a0And I know that they give to me because they see their love mirrored through me, and they see my love extended back to them; and they give to me because they see a promise that they have forgotten in themselves.\u00a0 The openness of my heart that allows me to receive their gift physically allows them to also send their heart into my heart spiritually.\u00a0 That’s where the Christ Mass takes place–in the loving heart.<\/p>\n I will sacrifice ANYTHING to get to that loving heart, to awaken you to your loving heart, and to have you open your heart to the divine melodies that sing inside of you.\u00a0 Those divine melodies sing joy to the earth, peace and goodwill towards men.\u00a0 They sing of the Light of God.\u00a0 They sing of truth and of honesty…and of justice.\u00a0 And often I hear them singing, \u201cMercy, mercy.\u201d\u00a0 The divine melodies of God sing of the loving heart.\u00a0 The loving heart encompasses all the rest; it encompasses peace, joy, Light, justice, truth…and the grace of the Lord.\u00a0 The loving heart loves unconditionally.\u00a0 It holds back nothing.<\/p>\n The Bible tells us, \u201cGreater love hath no man than this…that he should lay down his life for his brother.\u201d\u00a0 That’s a very profound statement of sacrifice.\u00a0 Can you imagine yourself coming to that state of sacrifice where you lay your life down–not for principle or cause–but for your brother and sister?\u00a0 Can you imagine so much love that you would say, \u201cTake my life and spare theirs\u201d?\u00a0 The depth of that loving goes way beyond my vocabulary.\u00a0 It is supreme sacrifice.<\/p>\n I look back 2,000 years and see what Jesus the Christ did.\u00a0 He said, in essence, \u201cTake my life and save all of theirs.\u00a0 Take me in place of them.\u00a0 Dump all the arma on me; I’ll take it with me and clear it through my sacrifice.\u201d\u00a0 I look at that action and say, \u201cLord, how did he do it?\u00a0 It’s such a gigantic job.\u201d\u00a0 He did it because he had the gift of giving and the gift of receiving, and his loving heart encompassed all mankind and made his loving sacrifice and service the greatest reality of all.<\/p>\n It’s easy to say, \u201cLord, I’ll lay down my life for you anytime.\u201d\u00a0 So the Lord says, \u201cNow.\u201d\u00a0 And you say, \u201cNot tonight, I’m going to the movies.\u201d\u00a0 You see, there are a lot of ways to lay down your life for your Lord.\u00a0 One way is to go and minister to people, because everyone you meet is a manifestation of the Lord.\u00a0 If you deny one person, you have denied your Lord.\u00a0 The greatest commandment is to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself.\u00a0 All the rest of the Bible is a commentary on how to do that.\u00a0 Sometimes you say, \u201cI love my neighbor,\u201d but you won’t help him push his car out of the ditch.\u00a0 Love is a nice idea, but it doesn’t live unless it is manifested through loving.<\/p>\n Let me say it this way: You have blood in your body, and in that blood is life.\u00a0 If there is blood in your body and life in your blood, it’s nice to know that you can give life by giving of your blood.\u00a0 And it is when you give your blood that you have moved \u201clove\u201d\u00a0 into loving.\u00a0 Prior to that it’s a nice idea.\u00a0 The loving gives it life.<\/p>\n Give yourself the gift of giving yourself to others and give yourself the gift of receiving from others that part of you that is yourself.\u00a0 That is loving made active and alive.\u00a0 God lives inside of you, as you; and you can receive from yourself that personal experience of God every moment.\u00a0 Wouldn’t it be fantastic if by this time tomorrow the earth could be renewed and Christ could reign personally inside of you with your full awareness?\u00a0 It can happen.\u00a0 It can take place right now–it doesn’t even have to wait until tomorrow.\u00a0 It is happening.\u00a0 It is happening all over the planet; and it’s not necessarily being called Christ.\u00a0 It’s being called many names.<\/p>\n What is the love inside of you unless you give it away?\u00a0 Giving is the manifestation of loving.\u00a0 Without giving, you may be living, but living without loving is only existence, and existence often is a state of lack and an empty hope that someone will come along and save you from all the things that are happening \u201cto\u201d you.\u00a0 Loving fills the lack and opens the awareness of the inner wisdom and the knowledge that you are the creator of your universe and that nothing happens to you that you do not create, promote or allow.\u00a0 Loving is that active, dynamic part of you that accepts responsibility for all that you are and will be and lives in a state of open awareness.<\/p>\n The only thing that I can give you, this Christmas or any time, is the Spirit inside of me.\u00a0 I give that to you willingly.\u00a0 I give that freely because that’s all I have.\u00a0 Everything else is part of this physical world and, therefore, is transitory and impermanent and will decay and fall away in time.\u00a0 The Spirit is eternal and is a gift that will endure forever.\u00a0 Spirit is free, and that means that you can be as free as you are willing to give Spirit away.\u00a0 That willingness to share all of yourself–all that you are–is your freedom.\u00a0 If you try to grab a hold of Spirit, you defeat yourself; and you lose yourself.\u00a0 Give it away and you will find it returned to you in more ways than you can imagine.\u00a0 You can’t fake it.\u00a0 You can’t say you are giving and loving and make anyone believe it, unless you demonstrate that giving.\u00a0 It is by your works that you are known, not by your intentions.\u00a0 People are very perceptive.\u00a0 You can’t fool them.\u00a0 Words of love are not necessarily loving.\u00a0 Loving is active.\u00a0 Loving is giving the God that lives within you to the God that lives within all people everywhere.\u00a0 Loving is sharing yourself.<\/p>\n Give yourself a gift of loving.\u00a0 Give yourself a gift of completing each day as it comes to a close…and of awakening to the newness in you as each new day dawns.\u00a0 Use your time wisely.\u00a0 Live in the now.\u00a0 Be loving to yourself and be loving to one another NOW.\u00a0 Don’t wait another instant.\u00a0 As you reside in your loving heart at each and every moment, you find that you reside permanently in the Christ and that you will never be separated from His grace and His presence.\u00a0 And you will experience the living Christ as your Beloved.<\/p>\n My Beloveds, Merry Christmas,<\/p>\n John-Roger<\/p>\n WATCH A SHORT VIDEO WITH JOHN-ROGER<\/strong>
\n
\n
\n