Love Behaves Admirably

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things endures all thing.” –I Corinthians 13:4-7 (ESV).

This passage in Paul speaks of love between individuals and what constitutes genuine, responsible love.  It is almost as if he is stating in different terms, and relating his teaching to love, the fruits of the spirit he gives in Galatians 5:22-23 which we noted in yesterday’s devotional:  “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”  In teaching how those who love should behave admirably, Paul gives double adjectives:  they act with patience and kindness (synonyms long-suffering and consideration);  they do not envy or boast (are not jealous or braggardly); they are not arrogant or rude (are not haughty or disrespectful).  He continues with listing negative behavior uncharacteristic of one who loves another:  “does not insist on its own way.” Positive behavior that replaces this action is love considers the other’s point of view.  Then the double adjective again:  “is not irritable or resentful;”  on the positive side, love is even-tempered and good-natured.  Then Paul gives the negative action: “does not rejoice in wrongdoing,”  and follows it by a positive action engendered by love:  “rejoices with the truth.”  The last four statements about how those who love behave are positive actions, but may need a bit of explanation.  “Love bears all things” is seen as facing circumstances, whatever they are, without “coming apart” but remaining level-headed and enduring through hardships.  “Believes all things” is a bit harder to arrive at the true meaning.  Are we to believe everything we hear?  Certainly not.  A clearer translation of the Greek is to not be suspicious of everything but to put the best construction on what is heard, to weigh, scrutinize and come to a valid conclusion.  A good measure is to weigh by the scale of God’s Word.  What does it teach?“Hopes all things” is another way of saying keep faith alive, ‘trust and obey.’  Love “endures all things” does not give up.  These are some cogent, strong teachings about love and our striving to reach these levels of maturity in our love for others is an ongoing goal.

To illustrate how love behaves admirably, I give you this true story about a six-year old boy named Johnny.  Both his parents died in an accident, and he was about to be entered into an orphanage.  But just before that happened, his aunt in a far-away place who had not been able to come to his parents’ funerals sent her servant for Johnny.  On the long ride, Johnny asked the servant if his aunt would love him, if she would be ready for him.  Old Jason assured young John, “Oh, yes.  Your aunt is a good woman.  You are about to fall into good hands.”  When they arrived at Johnny’s aunt’s house, she met them and held out her arms, embracing Johnny.  She showed him to a room, all his own, that she had fixed up for him.  Soon Johnny was feeling loved, welcomed and adjusted to life in his aunt’s home.  He went to school and grew up, confident and assured.  He got a college education and a good job.  But John noted that his Aunt Mary was growing old and sickly.  He feared she did not have long on this earth.  He had a talk with her and said, “Aunt Mary, years ago I left my former home as a scared, sorrowful little boy.  When Jason brought me to you, there you stood with outstretched arms.  You cared for me and brought me up in the right way.  I felt safe in my own room and I felt loved and welcomed in the home you provided for me.  Now, God is waiting up for you.  The door to the house He prepared for you is open to welcome you.  I know this is true, because I once saw God standing in your doorway with outstretched arms.”  Love behaves itself seemly, and it waits with outstretched arms to welcome those who need a home and love.  Can people see the love of God in you and me as John did in his Aunt Mary? Think on these things.

In the Spirit of Love, Bear Each Other’s Burdens

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ”. – Galatians 6:2.  “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” –Romans 15:1.  “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” –John 15:13 (ESV).

Two days we thought about Jesus’ teaching that the greatest of the commandments is for us to love one another.  We looked at the family unit based on love, mutual respect and the desire to help each other grow into loving, serving individuals.  Today we consider helping others bear their burdens as being a result of the love we feel in our hearts for our fellow human beings.  “But I have enough burdens of my own,”  you might say, “without seeking to help others with their life loads.  I am limited in what I can do, and my own come first.”  Yes; we are limited, oftentimes in time, energy and means to help.  Yes, those closest and dearest to us are our main responsibility.  But if we take a narrow view on the parameters of love as we learn it from the Lord, we will miss blessings for ourselves and rob others of the blessings of being helped and loved.  Galatians 6:1 states that “you who are spiritual should restore anyone caught in transgression in a spirit of gentleness.”  Burden-bearing for others requires a gentle touch and a walk that is close to the Lord.  We go back to Galatians 5:22-23 to see the characteristics of such a walk, one who is capable of being a burden bearer.  “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  And Ephesians 5:25 tells us not to “become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”  To bear one another’s burdens is the supreme imitation of Jesus, for He was the exemplary burden-bearer.  Jesus taught, “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). 

Paul admonished that it is even our obligation to bear the infirmities of the weak.  An illustration comes from the mission field that shows the strength the burden-bearer receives.  In Aftica where medical missionary Dr. Lambie worked, he had to cross many swift streams without bridges.  The natives taught him their way of not being swept downstream by the waters.  They told Dr. Lambie to get a heavy stone and carry it with him as he waded across the stream.  It would act as ballast, causing his feet to be more firmly planted on the bottom of the stream so that the water would not sweep him away.  The doctor tried this advice and it worked.  That action provided a good illustration for him to use in teaching the Christian truth of burden-bearing to those to whom he ministered.  While we cross the dangerous stream of life, we need the ballast of bearing others’ burdens—and even burdens of our own—to keep us solid and focused on the important things of life.  Who is not personally made stronger by bearing a burden for another?  Jesus taught that the law is to bear a soldier’s pack for a mile, but He told us to go two miles.  That of course indicates that we are to seek to help not just in the expected manner, but to go the second mile.  If a persons has no food to eat, we give him food to satisfy hunger.  But going the second mile would be to seek to show him how to earn his livelihood so he can purchase his own food.

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends”  (John 15:13).  We must remember that love is not just an emotion, a feeling; it is an act of the will.  And love seeks the best for others, even to being willing to lay down one’s life (denying self) in order to help a friend.  We heard, especially during World War II, of heroic deeds when one soldier performed an act of bravery that cost him his life but saved others in his unit.  We may not always be called upon to die for others, but to live for them and seek to lead them in right pathways sometimes requires “laying down one’s life” in great sacrifice of time, money and guidance.  Anne Sullivan laid down her life in this way to teach the severely handicapped child, Helen Keller.  Think of the rewards for both Helen and Anne.  We need to look about us every day and pray:  “Lord, to whom can I minister today?  Who has a burden I can help them bear?”  While you’re praying to be shown that person, pray for strength to meet whatever circumstances arise.

Blessed Are the Meek

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”  Matthew 5:5 (NKJV).

Meekness is by no means to be construed as weakness.  The Greek word for meekness, praus, denotes gentleness and mildness of manner but strength of character.  So important are meekness and gentleness that both are listed in the nine fruits of the spirit in Galatians 6:22-23:  “:But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance;  against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23, KJV).  Noting both meekness and gentleness, two words so closely akin in meaning, Paul was giving emphasis to the importance of meekness as a Christian virtue.

One of the dear professors who instructed me as I was taking Bible courses in college used an illustration for explaining the third beatitude that has remained with me for many years.  He asked us to picture a wild stallion, caught and brought under submission through the taming process.  The stallion had strength and grace as he was wild, but under constant training and with the good treatment and love of his master who trained him, he became obedient, gentle and mild.  The rippling strength of the horse was still present, as when he roamed the plains freely before becoming domesticated, but he became meek and gentle under the training and restrictions of the taming process.  So it is with the Christian.  Under the dominion of Jesus Christ, our character is genuinely changed to become meek and gentle, fit for the Master’s use. Jesus was teaching in the third beatitude that meekness is a greater attribute to seek and cultivate than pride.  This idea was a revolutionary doctrine to the Jewish disciples Jesus taught.  They had pride of their Jewish inheritance, a called-out and set-apart people.  They were familiar with the pride in power that was evidenced through Roman rule that exercised political and military dominion over the world of their day.  They would likewise have been familiar with the Greek pride in  culture, much learning and the arts.  And then Jesus put forth the revolutionary doctrine, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth!”  Can’t you imagine the disciples thinking, “How can this be possible?”  In comparison to how they normally considered pride, meekness was not a desirable characteristic.  Was Jesus asking them to be weak and compliant?

The disciple needs to learn that meekness is a virtue which can be exercised toward God and toward man.  Meekness is not a weak but a heroic quality.  A meek person is patient and forbearing, not easily provoked nor irritated.  And the amazing teaching of Jesus is that the meek “shall inherit the earth.”  Was this a paradox too wonderful to comprehend?  Scholars hold this promise to mean not only inheriting “the new heaven” which is eternal and perfect but having the best of the present world.  This was certainly an extraordinary doctrine and one that the twelve who surrounded Jesus on the Mount of Olives needed to hear and heed; it is one we need to adopt into our manner of thinking and living .  The meek are the gentle who do not assert themselves in order to further their own cause.  And with such meekness they will be rich indeed, inheriting the best qualities of even this present world, because they trust in God to direct the outcome.  This teaching of Jesus was a reiteration of what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 37:4-5:  “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.”

The Fruit-Bearing Christian

“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” –Galatians 5:22-26. (ESV)

On the farm where I grew up, we had fruit-bearing trees: apples, peaches, pears, cherries. My father learned the technicalities of grafting to help the trees produce better varieties. Sometimes I watched him do the grafting process and would sometimes cringe when he cut into the bark to graft a branch into the tree. As a small child I imagined the slash and attachment as bringing pain to the tree, much as a similar process would have done to my arm. But the end result of this method of improving the fruit trees on our farm brought delicious fruits at harvest time.

Likewise, the practical Paul, writer of the letter to the Galatians, had sound advice for those who would be fruit-bearing Christians. First, they needed to rid themselves of works of the flesh named in verses 19-21. Herein is a list of quite unbecoming and even pagan behavior. Cast away the unspiritual works of sin.

The fruit of the spirit is desirable and characteristic of a Christian led by the Holy Spirit. In talks about developing these spirit-led characteristics, I have pictured them with graphics. One was a drawing of a bunch with nine grapes, each representing the nine virtues bestowed by the Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Another graphic to help learners remember is a building with the foundation as love, the walls made up of joy, peace, patience and goodness, the door of kindness, the windows of faithfulness and gentleness, and the roof of self-control. In whatever way we remember these nine qualities of Spirit-led living, me need diligence in practicing them. They come with daily “crucifying the flesh” which gets in the way of Spirit fruit-bearing. And in this whole lesson from Galatians, we learn that strong verbs indicate whom we follow: We walk in the Spirit, we live by the Spirit, we are led by the Spirit, we keep in step with the Spirit. Much followship, and that daily, is indicated by these positive actions. Rev. J. B. Phillips wrote, “Every time we say ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit,’ we mean that we believe there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it.”

Is it hard for you (as it is for me) to list the nine fruits on the cluster of the fruit of the Spirit in order? Rev. Robert J. Morgan in his mnemonic devices for memorization of the scriptures suggests we use the first letters of each word of this prayer to remind us of the nine characteristics of Kingdom fruit: “Lord Jesus, please produce kingdom grace for God’s sake.” And there we have the nine-fold fruit: LJPPKGFGS: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control. A general complaint of present-day Christians is that they are “too much like non-Christians,” that “no difference is discerned between the non-Christian and the Christian’s behavior.” Let us abide in the Vine this year that we may bear Spirit-fruit worthy of Him.