Thoughts from John Bell - Love In 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul introduces the subject of the “spiritualities,” the things that pertain to the Spirit of God. The first part of the chapter focuses on the Lordship of Christ. “Jesus is Lord!” is always the emphasis of the Holy Spirit. He makes Christ real to us. If we have any awareness of the reality and living presence of Christ, it is because of the work of the Holy Spirit within us. Then Paul talks about the gifts of the Spirit. Every believer is equipped with certain spiritual gifts for ministry. If you are not learning to use those gifts, you are sabotaging the program of God. He has given gifts that you might have a ministry within the Body of Christ. In Chapter 13, we come to the “fruit of the Spirit.” The fruit of the Spirit is far more important than the gifts of the Spirit. Becoming loving people is much more important than being busy people. Both are necessary, but one is greater than the other. Paul has said so: "I will show you a still more excellent way." That is the way of love. Love is the fruit of the Spirit. In Galatians 5, the apostle details even further what the fruit of the Spirit is. It is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, (Galatians 5:22-23). Eight of the qualities are simply expressions of love. Joy is love enjoying itself; peace is love resting; patience is love waiting; kindness is love reacting; goodness is love choosing; faithfulness is love keeping its word; gentleness is love empathizing; and self-control is love resisting temptation. The work of the Spirit of God within us is to produce the full character of Christ through the quality of love. Once we have love, all the other qualities that are part of the fruit of the Spirit are possible. If we have the love of God in our hearts, then we can be patient; we can be peaceful; we can be good, faithful, gentle, kind, etc. But without love, all we can do is imitate these qualities with phony love and phony love is a deadly enemy. Love must be genuine among God’s people (Rom. 12:9). If not, it is hypocrisy. If it is a facade, if you just act like you are kind or thoughtful or gracious but it all disappears under pressure, death spreads within the whole community. However, genuine love will produce life, abundant life!
Posted on: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 09:10:28 +0000
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