Fruit of the Spirit: Love
Does growing in your relationship with God mean that you will be required to abandon your preferences and personality? Not at all. Walking with God and obeying His leadership in your life enables you to be the best version of yourself. Little by little, continually listening to the voice of God will scrub off the rough and ungodly edges of your behavior and begin to reveal godly character traits (a.k.a. fruits of the spirit) such as love, the greatest commandment of all.
…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. – Galatians 5:22-23 ESV
Love, the Greatest Commandment of All
In Matthew 22:36-39, Jesus explains that the greatest commandment of all is to love God with all of your heart, soul, and mind, and the second greatest commandment is to love others as much as you love yourself.
Admittedly, there are times when it is difficult to love others. So, how do you manifest this fruit of the spirit when you don’t feel any love for a particular person?
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
-1 John 4:19-21 ESV
This scripture makes it crystal clear; as a Christian, you are required to love others. Fortunately, the book of John provides readers with a tool to help Christians when they don’t feel like loving others.
Christians should love others because God first loved us.
When a young Christian first realizes the gravity of her personal sin and accepts the free gift of salvation, she is often overwhelmed by the goodness of God. She is blown away by the fact that God would demonstrate such great love even though she could never, under any circumstance, do anything to deserve it. Unfortunately, as she matures in her relationship, it is easy to forget that she never deserved God’s love in the first place. Reminding yourself of this fact will help you to love others even when you don’t feel like doing so.
Do you struggle with thinking you can’t experience God’s love because you don’t deserve God’s love? This article can help!
Love and Boundaries
What should you do if a person takes advantage of your demonstrations of love?
- First and foremost, you should forgive the person, even when he or she doesn’t ask for forgiveness. Undoubtedly, that’s a tough point to swallow but think on this often-used statement:
Unforgiveness is like drinking poison, but expecting someone else to die.
2. You should not place yourself in harm’s way physically or emotionally and put appropriate boundaries in place.
When attempting to determine if you should create a boundary for someone that you believe is misusing your acts of kindness, ask yourself this question: Am I placing myself in harm’s way, or am I just uncomfortable?
Just because you are uncomfortable or don’t feel like it, it is no excuse to fail to show love to others. Relying on feelings often leads to trouble! If you struggle with being led by your feelings, this article will help you!