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Happy Valentine’s Day!

Are you looking forward to having a little chocolate this week, or are you going to be “good” and have some fresh fruit instead? Being a chocoholic, as some call it, the only way I want fruit on Valentine’s Day is if it’s part of a chocolate dessert. But there is another kind of fruit that I do crave every day—the fruit of the Spirit.

Galations 5:22 tells us that the “Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness.” It’s a wonderful fruit salad isn’t it? It’s not only healthy, it’s helpful and CALORIE FREE. And since we are celebrating Valentine’s Day this week, I’d like to focus on the fruit of “love.” Similarly, I Corinthians 13:1-2 tell us that love is the best of all fruits to have. That even if we have all kinds of other spiritual gifts, like prophecy, or speaking in tongues, or even if we can move mountains, without love we are “nothing.” 

From the time we are born, we all crave love. Just look into the eyes of a newborn as it stares at his or her mother and you’ll see it. I Corinthians 13: 4-8 goes on to say that “love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy: love does not parade itself, is not puffed up: does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil: does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth: bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” 

WHEW!  That’s quite a list, isn’t it? I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been able to consistently express all of those qualities towards anyone. Certainly not at all times— even those I love the most. Just this week I experienced an upsetting squabble with one of my dearest friends. And though I know she is a strong believer and we both have the Holy Spirit, in that moment of conflict, both of us failed to demonstrate godly love towards one another. And being married for many years to a wonderful husband, does’t exempt us from times of failure in God’s test of love.

How is it we all have struggles and failings with some of those characteristics when it comes to relationships?  And when we do fail, is it an indication that we don’t really love someone or that we don’t have the Holy Spirit?

Let’s get back to the verse in Galatians. It tells us that love is the fruit of the Spirit. I believe it is telling us is that all of those kinds of loving qualities like joy, peace, and kindness etc, flow out of God’s Spirit and love is at it’s best when it comes from God’s Holy Spirit. So, when we do something hurtful and harmful to someone, it means we probably weren’t letting God’s Spirit work through us at that moment. Instead, we were likely letting our own human desires, perspectives, emotions, and weaknesses fuel our actions instead of God’s Holy Spirit. 

Worse, still, when we allow God’s enemy, the devil, to use us for his evil purposes, we fail every time. We know that Satan is the enemy to all true fruitfulness, especially love. That he wants to divide us, create hate and destruction to relationships. And it’s evident by the kind of hateful things occurring in this world today, that his works are the kind of destructive fruits he is working extra hard to produce. 

And while there are many things that can lead us away from being spiritually fruitful, there are also some things that can lead us towards failure in love. They can make us particularly vulnerable to the enemy and impede God’s effectiveness for good. Ephesians 5:18 says: “Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation: but be filled with the Spirit.” The use of illicit drugs and abuse of alcohol are two very real spirits that NEVER bring the fruit of true love. In fact, the use of either of those, even in small amounts, can often lead to terrible failures, distortions of love, destruction, raunchy or terrible behavior, and even death. They fuel our failure and enable the influence of evil. Yet, how often do we depend on that spirit to calm us, make us “happy” or help us in any way versus a dependance on the Spirit of God? Even if it’s just a little, those spirits are not going to help us exhibit love. While I occasionally have an alcoholic beverage, I mostly avoid it because I know it interferes with God’s Spirit and His effectiveness in me.

I am happy to report that the “squabble” I had with my longtime friend was resolved in a loving and forgiving way. Though we both struggled for a few days over our own feelings and understandings, after praying, God gave us reconciliation with one another by placing kindness and forgiveness into our hearts. It was truly an example of letting God affect our hearts towards love. But I know that I will continue to have conflicts in relationships as long as I am still in this imperfect world and wonder when they will end. 

Looking for answers to that we read further in I Corinthians 13: 9-13 where, it says: now “we know in part… but when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away….For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now we know in part, but then we shall know.. and we should continue to “abide in faith, hope love, these three: but the greatest of these is love.”

As you continue in this week of love and Valentines, or even in the everyday expressions of any relationship, it’s my prayer that you will allow God’s Holy Spirit to lead you and fill you with His true fruit. 

In my next post I’ll be offering one of my original poems that speaks about the fruit of the Spirit, so be watching for it. My poem- THE FRUIT, can also be found in my book Fresh Eyes: Seeing God in the Unexpected. I’d also LOVE it if you’d leave a comment here below this blog post.  And don’t think it didn’t get through to me if you don’t see it posted immediately. It’s just that I have to approve of the comment before it’s published.

Have a Happy and fruitful Valentine’s Day!

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#failure #believer #Fresheyes #drugs #alcohol #faith #hope #scripture #prayer #abide #HolySpirit