Fruit of the Spirit- Love!

For the next several weeks, our blogs are going to be on “The Fruit of the Spirit,” listed in Galatians 5. I was interested to see if I teach on the same general topic to our youth at the RTC, our subacute unit at MBH, the ladies at CARES and our staff blog, any connections can be made if we are all reading the same Scriptures each week, and all focus on the same areas of growth! So—we’ll see! : ) I’ll let you know if I notice anything!

The fruit of the Spirit is listed in Galatians 5:22-23, and if you grew up attending church, or church camp, or maybe even a VBS, you probably can list them off (maybe even in song form!) The fruits listed in Galatians 5 are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The verse goes on to say, “against such things there is no law.” That’s such a funny phrase to me, but I like it. Basically—“there’s no reason that you shouldn’t be doing this, so get to it!” He also probably mentions this because in verse 14, Paul reminds us that the entire law is fulfilled in one commandment—“Love your neighbor as yourself.” Once again, we read that our job is to love others, and we do so by living in such a way that the fruits listed here are evident in our lives.

As we all know, fruit is the natural by-product of a healthy plant, functioning the way it should. Whether it’s a tree, a vine, or a bush, it can’t produce good fruit unless it is healthy. Trees don’t have to really labor or try hard to make the fruit appear—if they are living as a tree should, and getting all that a tree needs to be healthy, the fruit is going to just naturally be there.

This truth extends to us as followers of Christ. The point of talking about the fruit of the spirit is not so that we will work harder to be kinder, or more loving, or to show better self-control. This fruit is not really about our actions. The fruit is what is going to naturally be visible in our lives if we are living healthy Christian lives.  And while the evidence of health is fruit, the main cause of health is whether or not we are living a life tied in and rooted to the source of all nutrients. We shouldn’t be shocked if our fruit isn’t as healthy or as robust as we want it to be if we are not daily being fed what we need for growth.

As we look at the different fruit each week, I just want to encourage you to ensure that you are connecting with God daily, and allowing Him to pour in your life, giving you your “daily (Spiritual) bread” for that day. Only then will your joy abound, will your peace prosper, and will your patience be something of note.

Our fruit for this week is love. We’ve talked much about love over the past few weeks, so I think we are good here with just a quick reminder. In John 15, which also just so happens to talk about remaining tied in to the vine in order to produce good fruit, God reminds us that love is about abiding. It is about remaining consistent, loving as God loves us, and even laying down our lives for our friends.

But, what does that love look like in practicality, on a day-to-day basis? I think we have to remember to love those we would rather detach from. Whether it be a hard co-worker, a difficult to love family member, or a friend who seems to always take and never give, we need to remain a force of love, even when we would rather not. This doesn’t mean to stay in toxic relationships and endure abuse, because we know there are extreme cases when relationships need to be broken. However, outside of those specific cases, we should wear forgiveness on our sleeves, ready to offer it up as often as is needed. Love can often start out with ease, but as time wears on and real life sets in, the difficulties often rise to the surface.

One of the challenges that I extended to our CARES ladies as we talked about love this week was to think of one hard-to-love person (who is in your life to stay), and think of three characteristics that you can appreciate about them. Thank God for those things, and use them to build a bridge by which you can become closer. Try to see that person as God sees them. And remember that they also may be struggling to extend love to you!

As we walk through this week, may our love for others increase. May we love the hard-to-love, not in our own strength, and not because we are trying harder, but because we choose to let God love through us, and we see His image in the face of those we struggle to love.