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The spark is gone, our relationship is boring, I just dont think I can love her anymore.
Those folks have treated me so unfairly. I just dont want to have anything to do with them anymore. I know I cant hate them, but I dont think I cant love them either!
Love. Weve all heard the definitions of the four loves. Weve all been told we had to love. Nearly every wedding has some part of 1 Corinthians 13 read:
Love is patient, love is kind, it does not boast It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
But only God can do always and never! I can want to be that way, even commit to be that way, but only God is always love and never unloving. So what are we to do? How do we even approach the standard of love we are called to exhibit?
Recently I took my daughter and her teammates to a basketball game. The girls decided they had to have cotton candy! As they ate these huge wisps of spun sugar, I remembered the story of a tiny little girl:
Sweetheart, how does a little bitty girl like you eat such a huge amount of cotton candy?
The little girl thought for a minute, smiled, and answered confidently: I just guess Im bigger on the inside than on the outside.
On the outside, from the very human view of things, we cannot and will not approximate the love we are called to give Christians. Were going to have to be bigger on the inside than on the outside. But how do we do that?
Our answer is found in the power of the Holy Spirit. The most obvious demonstration of the Spirits presence is a lifestyle of love. We must learn not to interfere with his work at producing love in us. We must open ourselves to his power to make love blossom in our hearts and our habits. The Bible gives us several practical ways to enable his power to love in ways beyond our own power.
Our first step is to focus our hearts on Gods redemptive love in Jesus.
We are taught to love by God. We are taught what love is by God. As we focus on Gods example of love in Jesus, the Holy Spirit is at work to transform us to be like him. As we focus on Jesus example of love and read the Gospels about his loving care for others, we are changed by the Spirit to be more loving.
The Spirit also releases his enabling to power to love in our lives when we do loving deeds of kindness to others. Like the Nike slogan says: Just do it!
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The Bible does not simply say God loves us. Instead, the inspired writers include an example of Gods love when they speak of his love for us. Jesus love and compassion always led him to action. From Gods point of view, love is something you do, not just something you feel.
We are to do loving things whether others deserve it, we feel like offering it, or if we have the will or want to do it. By acting lovingly first, were demonstrating our faith that God will supply the power necessary to love as he loves. We are then filled with the Spirit when we submit our will and serve others lovinglynotice that Paul says we are to be filled with the Spirit and lists five ways to do this: speaking to one another, singing, making music in our hearts to God, giving thanks, and submitting to one another. In plain old cornbread English, when we do loving things to honor Christ, the Spirit gives us the power to do what we cannot do.
Prayer also releases the power of the Spirit to enable us to love. We are strengthened with Gods power to be loving to each other.
God continually pours out the Holy Spirit into our lives. The Spirit is like an inexhaustible, ever flowing stream of Gods power. The Spirit then becomes the source of Gods endless supply of love. While that supply of love is always with us, we tap his power through prayer. Incredibly, the Father of always and never love shares that love with us.
Finally, the Holy Spirit enables us to love by moving us and convicting us to respond in love to others needs.
To live and be led by the Spirit means our lives are shaped by the character the Spirit produces. The cardinal virtue of the Spirits presence is love and the Spirits fruit is displayed in loving actions toward others. When we find ourselves moved at the physical needs of another or the need of the lost for salvation, we must recognize this as the work of the Spirit and respond. The Holy Spirit longs to empower our love to meet the needs of the lost and broken in the name of Jesus!
The Holy Spirit is the power of love. This is not a passing, whimsical, emotional love. Instead, it is the power of Gods always and never love. Lets release it by:
The Holy Spirit dwelling in us, enables us to be bigger on the inside so we can serve in ways bigger than we are capable on the outside. Thats the power of Gods love at work in us. Lets share it today.
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| HEARTLIGHT(sm) Magazine is a ministry of loving Christians and the Westover Hills church of Christ. Edited by Phil Ware and Paul Lee. Copyright © 1997 Heartlight, Inc. HEARTLIGHT and the flared heart design are service marks of Heartlight, Inc. |
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