Welcome to Fruitful Thursday. This is a 9 month series in which I'll be exploring the fruits of the spirit; Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control. I'll b starting with love...which is the perfect place for me to start. I've been feeling a lot of stress, sleepless nights and angst lately, but definitely not a whole lot of love. I've allowed the busyness of life to creep in and rob me of that. It's time to reclaim it.But what is love? It's on many lips, but few hearts.
The first thing that came to mind was Whitney Houston (cue Greatest Love of All) but I know where the true answers lay, so I went to the Bible, which says:
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7"And now these three remain; faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13
Isn't that beautiful? Love is so many good and wonderful things in one bitty word. The more I studied those two verses, the more I realized, love is the greatest. Love encompasses every fruit of the spirit.
Please forgive my crude drawing, I'm a visual learner.
For every fruit of the spirit, there is a balanced definition of love. I don't know about you, but that was an epiphany for me! If I can learn to love, to truly model God's love, then the rest of the fruits should come a bit more easily. Now that I have a better understanding of what love truly is, I'm going to spend the week meditating on how to apply it to my life. I want to be that beacon of light for my family, the restful haven for my husband and children.
How about you? What does love mean to you?
OK, I guess I needed that spelled out for me because your little chart had my eyes popping out of my head with realization. Cheryl, thank you so much for sharing this! I am so looking forward to the rest of the series.
ReplyDeleteI'll share that for several years we have been trying to enforce (ahem, force) obedience from our children. There are so many Christian parenting books that also emphasize it. Then I became aware of "Loving Our Kids On Purpose" by Danny Silk, which goes back to 2 commandments: Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind; and Love your neighbor as yourself. Love. LOVE is the ultimate, right there. That doesn't mean there aren't consequences for disobedience, but the emphasis is on LOVE not on whether they obey or disobey. By focusing more on love, I am not as frustrated and things are easier.
Yes, I needed to read what you wrote today.
Colossians 3:12-14 says "Love binds (the fruit of the spirit) in perfect unity.
ReplyDeleteMy God (YAHWEH) is love. I'm so glad that's not all He is!!
ReplyDeleteI want to pop in to let you know that I am doing a homeschool giveaway on my blog: www.homeschoolercafe.blogspot.com !
Stop by and enter!
Love,
Janet
great post!! can't wait to read the rest!
ReplyDeleteloved this
ReplyDelete