When we discern God’s love in the simple and everyday blessings permeate our lives.
When I was a boy, Dad liked to barbeque rib steaks on Saturdays, after we returned from a day of fishing. He taught me how to get the coals ready, and eventually how to grill the meat. Dad made a special sauce from off-the-shelf items, and I dubbed it “secret sauce.” I still make it, as it imparts a wonderful savory flavor to beef, pork, or chicken, but it’s no longer a secret I keep.
I said in my last post I intended to explore the fruits of the Spirit. In Galatians, Paul writes,
“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, NIV.)
The growth of this fruit gives evidence the Spirit is molding our heart into the likeness of Christ. The Apostle Paul explains we are to walk by the Spirit, and if we allow the power of the Spirit to preside over the way we live, we will truly know the freedom in Christ, and avoid the extremes of legalism and license. This is the “secret sauce” of living in Christ.
“If we are living now by the Holy Spirit’s power, let us follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives” (Galatians 5:25, TLB.)
First up, love. Volumes have been written about Christian love, and I won’t presume to add anything to this fund of literature. I write here only a few thoughts gained from prayer, the Bible and several reference readings. The love Paul means is agape love. This love is unconditional, self-sacrificing, serving love, which considers others needs above one’s own. Agape love involves faithfulness, commitment, and an act of the will. Jesus spoke about Christian love,
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31, NIV.)
Sounds great, but hard to live. Self-sacrificing love doesn’t come naturally to us; we have a fallen selfish nature. This love can only come from God, because God is love; it is Christ’s Spirit living in every believer. Christ died for us when we we’re yet sinners (Romans 5:8.) I have to ask myself if others see Christ in me. In Christ’s church, I think evangelism efforts can sometimes disappoint because others don’t see in us the Christ we proclaim. Without love, our faith gains nothing.
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (I Corinthians 13:1-3, ESV.)
Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, called upon Christians to care especially for the needs of believers. Yes, our Christian family comes first. Christians are called to bear one another’s burdens, and to support, nurture and uplift each other in God’s word, in order for the church to remain strong to do the hard work of Christ among those who don’t know Him as Savior.
“Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ, . . . So then, while we have opportunity, let’s do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith” (Galatians 6:2,10, NASB.)
It’s like vaccination priorities. My sister is a nurse, and she told the hospital to give her covid19 vaccination dose to someone else. The clinic nurse advised my sister she was thinking wrongly. If the caregivers go down, who will care for the sick? Likewise, believers share with Christians so they might help others outside of the church family.
The news has shown over the past several months many examples of people doing things to help their neighbors, like a story I saw on the evening news about a man who makes pizzas to give to the homeless. He lowers them out his apartment window to the hungry receiver below!
Mother Teresa once said, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
Ordinary people can supply the answers to many prayers, but only when we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us. I pray that Jesus will guide me to recognize these opportunities for everyday miracles. Love allows the world to see God through us, because all love comes from God.
“No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us” (I John 4:12, NIV.)
One more thought: Jesus told us to love ourselves (as referenced in Mark 12:30-31 above.) This doesn’t mean the selfish, arrogant kind of self-love. This is a “selfie” society, and many crave the favor of their peers as a means to validate their own value, or to focus on their own ego. I don’t think taking a selfie is wrong in itself, just that the motive for it can be misguided at times.
Matthew Kelly, in Rediscover Jesus, says self-love means “the love of self that acknowledges that we are weak and wounded, and at the same time that we are amazing children God.”
When I think about that, I feel humility, gratitude and joy. Jesus loves me. I’m awed by this wondrous truth. I’m lovable, despite my brokenness.
“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” (Colossians 3:12, NRSV.)
Pretty amazing stuff. He loves us so we can love others.
And ourselves.
Selah.