Bearing the Fruit: Love

1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and  if i deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Most of us have heard the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians read at weddings.  But if you restrict this passage to marriages only then you are not producing the fruit of love as Christians are supposed to.  As Christians, the concept of love is totally different from what today's society would have you believe.  The world today views love as some abstract emotion that is felt between people who are close with one another.  As Christians we should know that love is an action that should be shown towards EVERYONE.  If you love someone, then it should be evident to others through your actions.  You may not be thrilled about the thought of loving everyone but you should know that you're not alone.  Whenever we hear this we all have that one person who pops into our mind and we think, "Oh no.  That means I have to love that person too."  It's not easy but we are nevertheless called to do it.

Matthew 5:43 You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.  For he makes the sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?  Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Here is Jesus telling us that it is not enough for us to love as the world around us loves.  We have to show that we love everyone just as Jesus did.  We have to remember that we are just as dirty and rotten as everyone else.  We all have that sinful nature that makes us do things we know we shouldn't.  This has caused us to sin not just against God but against each other as well.  If you have trouble loving someone because of something they have done to you, then you need to ask yourself who has trouble loving you because of something you have done to them.  If someone is persecuting you then pray, for them.  I don't know the situation; maybe they are doing it for no reason or maybe they feel you have wronged them.  It doesn't matter because we are still called to love them and to pray for God's mercy and grace be made apparent to them.

1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude.  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

Read that passage again while remembering that love is a verb.  You are called to have patience and show kindness to EVERYONE.  You do not feel jealousy towards or brag to ANYONE.  You must be humble to EVERYONE; there is no room for pride when you are trying to show someone that you love them.  If you are filled with pride then you are making it about yourself; loving someone is you making it about them.  You must be polite with EVERYONE.  You can't have the attitude, "It's my way or the highway!" See what I said earlier about pride.  You are to conduct yourself in a calm manner and do not hold grudges against ANYONE; forgive EVERYONE.  Matthew 6:14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. You shouldn't encourage ANYONE to do something wrong and never hold it against ANYONE for being honest.  When you are filled with God's true love then you can withstand anything, believe that all is possible with God, be secure in the hope of His promises, and thus be able to last through anything that comes your way.  If you are truly filled with God's love, then you are filled with the love that will be with you throughout eternity.

1 John 3:16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth.

This is more evidence that love is more than just a feeling but an action.  It is not enough just to say that you love someone.  You have to show that you love them with your actions.  There are several different ways to show your love for someone.  You can be a servant.  I'm not saying to just dedicate your life to taking care of one person's needs, but to just do things that help out others.  Don't refuse to help those who need it.  The most important thing that you can ever do to show your love for someone is to share the Gospel with them.  Even if that person is a fellow Christian.  It is important for us as Christians to keep the Gospel firmly before us so that we might keep our humility and continue to progress in our sanctification.  But for those who do not yet believe, the Gospel is the message of love and hope that they have been looking for, they just don't know it yet.  So examine yourself.  Make sure that you are filled with the true love that is God's love so that you can go out into the world and through a life of servitude show this broken world what it truly means to love.

1 Corinthians 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

True Hope

2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you. 13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, "I believed, and so I spoke," we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.  16 So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Hope. That is what this passage gives me and hopefully it gives it to you as well.  Why is hope important?  If you have no hope, then what is the point?  If you have hope then you will not despair, instead you will persevere.  All people go through times in their life when all they want to do is just lay down and give up.  However, as Christians we can take refuge in our hope that all trials for us are temporary.  Psalm 30:5 For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. We may have be having a hard time in this life right now but we have to remember that since this is only a temporary life; it won't last forever and when it’s over we will never have another worry.

With every breath we take we get closer and closer to death.  But the thing is, although our bodies will eventually return to the dust from which they came, our souls are immortal and will continue on.  Now for the Christian this shouldn't be a worry, but for some reason I see a lot of Christians who live their life like they are afraid of losing it.  Why is it so many Christians are afraid to do as Paul commanded Timothy to do and take hold of their eternal life (1 Timothy 6:12)?  Why should we be afraid? What does it matter what happens to us?  Why fear death? As Christians we are called to die.  We are called to turn our bodies over to Christ and let him shape us into his image.  Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.   

When Christ is in us we should be filled with an unbreakable resolve because we know that no matter what happens we will one day be standing by His side and sharing in His inheritance.  1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  Verse five tells us that God is guarding us through our faith.  So as long as we have faith then why worry so much about the things of this world? I'm not saying that we should just relax and rest on our laurels because God is going to take care of everything, but there is no sense in getting yourself worked into frenzy over temporal things.  Luke 12:25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to the span of his life?

What then shall we do? Through the hope we have in Him, we should be content in Christ Jesus our Lord in every situation.  Philippians 4:11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.  In every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.  While powerful, verse thirteen is not a rallying cry for those who want to climb mountains or become a financial success.  Instead it is a statement that no matter what situation that he is in, be it good or bad, Paul knows that Jesus is with him and that Jesus will see His will done.  Paul recognizes that as a Christians our goal is to see Jesus's will done and that knowledge is the secret to his contentment.  Why can't more of us today be like that?  If we are doing God's will, then what do we have to be worried about?  Don't you trust in the promise of Jesus?  Do you not have enough faith to have hope?