"This Is My Command"

By Zach Wood

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness and self-control.

 

 

Last week, I wrote a devotional talking about the fruits of the Spirit.  As I kept thinking, I felt led to spend some time writing about the fruits of the Spirit for some weeks and I think it would be a great benefit to each of us to think about each one, once a week.  So, for several weeks, I'd really like to share some thoughts and Scripture with these devotionals about the fruits of the Spirit.  I guess this will kind of be a devotional series if you will. 

 

We start out with the first fruit; Love.  Love is definitely a word that has been confused for many years now.  Society has turned love into what it is not supposed to be.  We use the word "love" in so many different ways each day.  We say we love certain things and we tell people we love them.  Love has so many different connotations and sometimes I think we need to be careful how we use the word so that God's Love can be communicated through our vocabulary. 

 

I just did a search through an online Bible website for the word "love" and found it appears 697 times.  I have not taken the time to go through my concordance to make sure the number is accurate, but just thinking of how many times it does appear amazes me!  Love is used throughout the Bible is so many different ways.  I think we need to remember Jesus' command to love one another as He says in John 13:34-35.  I would encourage you to read this passage in your Bible for a moment.  Jesus says that we are to love one another as He has loved us.  That is a love beyond our understanding.  I think sometimes the best way to communicate God's Love to someone is to simply share how God has made a difference in our lives by the love He has showed to us personally. 

 

Loving others is very difficult to do.  Jesus knew that.  He knew His disciples would have a hard time loving each other.  Talk about thirteen guys who had difficult times of showing love to each other.  They were all human and had trouble in dealing with love for one another.  The Apostle Paul clearly states in Romans 12:10, "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  Honor one another above yourselves."  Then in Romans 13:8 Paul goes on to say, "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law." 

 

One of my favorite verses about love is found in Ephesians 4:2 where Paul says, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."  Did you catch that?  He said that we need to bear with each other in love.  Wow!  Just as I said before, the disciples had hard time of loving each other because they were human and of different personalities.  We are all different from each other and that is the beautiful way God made us.  However, it brings on challenges when we deal with personalities and that is where love needs to come into the picture.  We need to learn to love each other and appreciate our differences.  Let us learn to love more effectively.  Not because we have to and are commanded to, but because we want to.  Are you with me?