“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV)
“This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.” (2 John 1:6 NKJV)
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:15 BSB)
When the Holy Spirit moves in He brings His fruit with Him. His first fruit is love. There have been more volumes written about love than probably any other topic. Rather than talk about the common love themes I want to share a definition for love that I gleaned from the Apostle John’s writings. It has guided me in how I have attempted to love my wife for 37 years. Here it is:
” Love is the dynamic living of truth in a relationship.”
There are 3 key words in this definition that have made it work for us:
- Dynamic – this refers to the fact that love is alive. God is love. Love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. If I try to love on my own I will eventually fall short. Love that lasts is love that flows through me from above.
- Living – love is an action verb. It actively gives and sacrifices for the benefit of the one being loved. For God so loved the world that He gave… I Corinthians 13 is all about how to live out love in my relationships to keep them alive and growing.
- Truth – love that keeps a relationship strong and vibrant is based in the Truth of the Living Word (Jesus) as expressed in the Truth of the Written Word (Bible).
Jesus said that the visible evidence of my love for Him is the keeping of His commandments. John actually said that love is living the truth. In order to love someone I need to live the truth in relation to that person. So let me share what that looks like with me and my wife Melody.
When I was preparing to marry Melody I got as many Bible based books on love and marriage as I could get my hands on. I read them all and compared what they said to what I could find in the Bible itself. My goal was to learn the truth about things like sex, partnership, husband’s role/responsibilities, how to serve my wife, how to lead, etc. Based on this definition of love I knew that the only way we were going to have a great marriage was if I were able to apply the truth in whatever situation or circumstance we would find ourselves. The more that I love Melody like Jesus loves her the better our relationship gets.
Through the years, every time I do things God’s way, guided by the Truth of the Word empowered by the Holy Spirit, our relationship is a little bit of Heaven on Earth. When I do things my way it very quickly begins to heat up (not in a good way) if you know what I mean.
Being led by the Spirit as He releases His fruit of love in and through me gives me the ability to love those around me. He empowers me to live in accordance with..,
… Eric’s Life Lesson # 42: “I am a Fruit Grower in the Kingdom of Heaven (quality fruit to give away).” Part 2: Love