Last week, I wrote about the fruit of the Spirit. When we receive the Holy Spirit, the seed is planted. The seed will eventually grow into fruit if it is in the right environment. We need to nourish it by growing closer to God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
This week, I will focus on love. The world overuses the word and idea of love to talk about material things like houses, clothes, food, and cars. We use the heart emoji to show that we love something. We love things that people do. We love the pictures that people post or the creative things that they make. Though we all dream of a perfect romance, that is simply not what love is about. Love is not just emotions, romance, and a bouquet of flowers. To really understand love, we need to look at what love is to God.
God’s love is all-encompassing, meaning there is no one He cannot or does not love for any reason. Because God loved us, we love others. We are called to love all people, not just our friends but even our enemies. That is where it gets hard. Love our enemies? How do you do that? Our love should imitate His love. In John 13:34-35, Jesus told his disciples to love one another in the same way He loves them. He did not single out Judas, who He knew would soon betray Him, and show him any less love than the rest of the disciples. No, He loved them all the same and expects us to do the same, even with the people that betray us.
So, how do we love all people? Let us look at an example of seeds planted in a garden, like the parable in the Bible that I referred to last week. Just because the seed is planted does not mean that it will grow. It needs someone to care for it. We need to water it, fertilize it, make sure it gets enough sunlight, keep the weeds away from it, etc. It is the same thing with growing love in our hearts. It takes constant attention and nurturing. What do we have to do to help nurture the fruit the Holy Spirit wants to produce within us? It is much like tending a garden. To start with, you must clear out some things in your life so there is room for love to grow. It is like pulling the weeds. Do you have hatred in your heart? Bitterness? Are you harboring any grudges? These are things you must get rid of, or else love will have no room to grow.
Our country is very divided right now. Why is that? We are different. Some of the differences are political views, race (more specifically views on race), gender classification, sexuality, and gun control. We are not expected to agree with each other. God expects us to love one another. There were many examples in the Bible where Jesus loved the outcasts of society. Did He approve of everything they did? No, but He still loved them. He does not approve of everything we do, but He still loves us.
I pray that God will break up the soil of our hearts and soften it so that the seeds of love that are planted will have an environment suitable for growth. Please help us to eliminate the weeds of hatred and negativity so they do not choke the ability of love to grow. Help us to allow the Holy Spirit to work within us in developing a deeper love… a love like Christ’s love, that sees only the good in people. We realize that plants do not grow rapidly, and it will take some time to reach maturity. Please give us the patience to continually grow and to not give up in becoming more like Christ. The most important quality is love.
Colossians 3:14 says And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
