Thanksgiving is just around the corner. so I want to take a look at something that I am very thankful for. What would that be? Why the work that the Holy Spirit is doing inside me that is changing me more and more to look like, talk like, walk like, think like and live like my elder brother, Jesus.
So I want to look at the Fruit, or evidence of the Holy Spirit at work. The evidence that an apple tree is healthy is by the fruit it produces. Proof that God is at work in our lives is evidenced by the change of our nature and character. These changes can only be accomplished by the Holy Spirit at work in me and you. The physical, tangible proof of such work, we call "Fruit."
We begin in Galatians 5:22 with these opening words:
But the fruit of the Spirit is LOVE.
That is the number one by product of this relationship with Jesus Christ.
Jesus himself said that the entire Ten Commandments could be summed up in two things. Love God with everything in you, and love your neighbor as you love yourself. Must be pretty important if Jesus framed the commandments with his love.
Learning to love.
Not as the world loves, not as society loves...
But the pure, heavenly love that comes from God himself.
He wants this to be the fuel that drives everything I do.
Love Him.
Love myself.
Love others as I love myself.
Love is not an emotion.
Love is a choice. I choose to love as God wants me to.
I choose to extend this to those around me that my flesh wants to with hold it from.
How can I truly receive the unconditional love from God and not, in turn, extend to others? I can't.
I have been called to love.
When I open myself up to love others.....
I give God an open door in my life to love them also.
I am merely a conduit for His love to flow to those around me.
The love that a mother or father has for their children is to give us an inkling of understanding of exactly how much God loves us.
The love that a man has for a woman is to show us how much love and desire God has to have a relationship with us.
So here today...
I am thankful for God's love.
I am thankful that God did not give up on me, but pursued me and saved me for His own.
I am thankful that God is teaching me how to love in the way that He does.
I am thankful for the love of family.
My wife, Vicki...
My sons, Chad and Josh...
My daughters-in-law, Robin and Heather...
My grand kids....Tyler and Ashley...
My mother-in-law, Betty.
Those that God has brought to Vineyard ReCovery...
The people up at Northside Baptist...
The staff and men at Rapha, as well as Elmo, Gretchen and the men who stay at Elmo's place...I could go on and on, but I won't.
I think that maybe I have only begun to scratch the surface of what it means to love as God loves.
But we've got to start some where....
Don't we?
God on you....
mb
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