Whatever you perceive is lacking in any situation is what you have failed to give.
It's an amazing sentence, because it gives us the key to the gateway to the kingdom of Heaven for ourself,
to really take the key and then to use the key, to turn the key.
Whatever you feel is lacking in any situation is what you have failed to give.
So what does that mean? What does that say about us as human beings?
It just means that we have emphasized the human part and we have de-emphasized the being part.
It's been such a focus on scarcity, on lack, on survival.
I am just going to use a real short word so you will be able to remember.
Getting. Get. Getting. We are human getters.
We are trying to get attention, we are trying to get money, we are trying to get love, we are trying to get affection,
trying to get notoriety, we are trying to get noticed, we are trying to carve out our niche for ourselves
like we were taught: "Carve out a niche for yourself.
Nobody is going to take care of you. You gotta take care of yourself.
You are going to have to get, you are going to have to be a pretty good getter,
a proficient getter in this world in order to survive."
And you know, I see that...
The first thing that Jesus was talking about is what you fail to give is...
Our only function on earth is to learn to give as God gives.
Because God is not a reciprocal God. God doesn't give in order to get something back.
Sometimes it gets portrayed that way, as if God has an ego and God is watching...
(Singing:) God is watching us, God is watching us, God is watching us from a distance.
That doesn't sound good. I don't like being watched. (laughter)
Especially from a distance. I don't like it close up, but even from a distance...
And to me that sounds a little sneaky. God is watching us from a distance.
A lurker, huh?... That is a lurker, always lurking, lurking, lurking.
Voyeur. Observer. A voyeur from a distance...
No, God is a giver. God gives love. God extends love. God extends only love.
And God doesn't even know what reciprocity is.
So God is not saying, "Listen, I will give, give, give to you, my beloved child. And now, here are the conditions.
This is what I want back in return."
Even Christians, really well-meaning Christians sometimes will say, "Our God is a jealous God.
You have got all these distractions, and God wants only your focus and attention."
That is still a bit bizarre, to say God is jealous. As if God is aware of all these distractions somehow,
he is like, "Pay attention to me some too. You know, I created you. Pray to me some." (laughter)
"Praise me! Come on! Praise, praise! Praise, praise!"
You know, God does not have an ego, and God does not want anything actually.
God doesn't even know what wanting is. God doesn't know what getting is.
And the conditions of human beings are... we are born with an ego, born of an ego.
Projected. People are peopled from the ego. The ego peopled the world. The ego put the people out there.
These seven billion little bottom feeders wanted to get, get, get, get.
Psychologically, physically. Get, get, get.
And the ones that are called the successful ones are the ones that are the better getters.
That is a pretty sneaky trap; the ones that get more are admired!
And yet they have nothing to do with God, because God is not a creator of getting.
In fact, Jesus teaches us that, just like the Bible said, "As you sow, so shall you reap."
And we have heard, "What goes around, comes around."
What Jesus teaches us is: Giving and receiving are the same. So all that I give is given to myself.
That is why I need to be a giver. Because I won't know my true identity,
because I won't receive the love that I am giving, unless I learn to give the love.
[Music]