We all too often fall into patterns of living that are marked by a complete disregard for the Lordship of Christ - he does not sit on our throne: we do. But then when we do feel drawn to live lives of holiness we all too frequently struggle in our own strength to be righteous, and utterly failing! We do not avail ourselves of the Spirit's empowering.
This is such a shame, for it is the Spirit's desire to transform us, and in so doing gives us present assurance of our salvation. This is so significant in a world that tells us uncertainty is king. We can look back over our life and see whether there has been evidence of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, and whether there is a long-term pattern of growth in my Christian life.
So, in an attempt to think through where the Spirit is at work in my life I will use each of the nine days between Ascension Day and before Pentecost to examine each of the fruits.
"God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in them"(1 John 4:16)
So first up is love....oh boy!
As a husband (and now father) I am keenly aware of how often I fail to act in a loving way to my wife. I can be surly, grumpy, moody and generally a bit of an insensitive moron. Simply put: I am selfish.
And perhaps this is the heart of God's view on love - it is about self-sacrifice, selfishness is anathema to love. If the greatest love is seen in the way we lay down our lives for others, where do I behave in this way? Or am I not all too often self-seeking (1 Cor 13:5)?
As I've prayed this morning I am struck by the way Paul lists a number of the other fruit as signs of love: patience, kind, joyful, gentle... So in a sense love is the doorway. If we fail to love our self-control, our goodness is all meaningless, which is precisely the point Paul is making in 1 Corinthians 13; religious activity is pointless if we do not love.
We love, however, because we are loved first (1 John 4:10).
Our love is a response. And so it should be in our attitude to others, especially our 'loved ones'...notice that...my wife is my 'loved one'. She is loved by me, so she is my beloved. It would never work if I approach love as something I give after she gives it to me...like some bank witholding a loan before a person opens a current account. No...I'm to give my love away.
This is how God operates!
God reveals his love in Jesus (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9)
I was reminded yesterday that Romans 12:1, the great injunction to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, refers to 'God's mercies' as the motivating factor. What is God's mercy? That Jesus came to die for me, to rise for me, and to go before me into heaven to prepare an eternal home.
I am fascinated by the 5 languages of love stuff. Remarkably, I think Jesus shows each of us each of the signs: words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, receving gifts, and physical touch. He speaks to us from the pages of the Gospels, telling us how much God loves us (just think of the parables). He laid down his very life, devoting his 33 odd years to his great work of love - that's quality love. Act of service? I should think so.
And to follow these up, Jesus offers us the ongoing gift of the Spirit, who for many people offers a regular sense of God's touch in their lives.
Maybe I'm stretching these - but the point is clear - God loves us.
So what should I do today to seek more of God's love:
- Have I read the Gospels recently to hear Jesus' words for me?
- Do I seek my own way at home? Do I withhold my affection from my wife waiting to be loved first?
- Have I asked the Spirit to show me where I am unloving?
To end, it is worth quoting at length from 1 John...it's a remarkable overview of love:
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who
loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know
God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his
one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love:
not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning
sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to
love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God
lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we
live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. "
1 John 4:7-13
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