The Fruit of Love

Fall is the most beautiful season of the year in northeast United States for God paints a kaleidoscope of colors on the trees and mountains. But God is also seeking to paint on the canvas of our lives the beauty a composite picture of the beauty of Christ, for He seeks to produce in us through His Spirit the fruit of the Spirit. We can't produce the fruit ourselves. Legalism can only produce a pseudo righteousness but not the real thing. Christlikeness can only be produced in us as we yield to the control of the Spirit of God and allow Him to live through us. And the first fruit He seeks to produce in us is LOVE! Love is the glue that holds all the other virtues together. But it is not love like the world defines it. Biblical love is the giving of ourselves for the benefit of others. It's selfless--an act of the will. But it is more than that for we are to love as Christ loved us. And the way Christ loved us was by first giving Himself to God as an 'offering and sacrifice' in an act of worship, and from that act of worship flows the giving of oneself for the benefit of others. Love begins with worship. Otherwise the giving of oneself for the benefit of our fellow man is only philanthropy. Love for God underlies our love for man. We love because God first loved us. Because we love God we will love others. Our love must be beyond words for love is a verb-- it entails action on our part. And when we are truly loving one another, the world surrounding us will take note that we indeed are followers of Jesus Christ.