My last blog post was about making the most of our season of cultivation and understanding the critical play it has on our blooming and producing. I mentioned that I had a goal last year to study the fruit of the spirit. Well, I am finally getting around to that. What better attribute to start with than love? Shoutout to God for perfectly aligning this inspiration with Valentine’s Day.

The reference: 1 John 4: 7-21

You can take a minute to read it if you want (or you can just read my rundown).

The Rundown

We should love others because God loved us. He expressed that love by sending His son into the world so that we could live forever. Our love for each other allows us show God to that person. We are given the Holy Spirit as verification that we walk by faith and Christ is in us. The more Christians walk out their faith, the more our love looks like God’s love. As we continue to walk by faith and show love, we have more confidence to face God at judgment day.

My Thoughts

You might be thinking, so wait, God saved me and now I have to sacrifice myself for everyone else? Precisely! Love is a fruit of the spirit and the spirit the proof of our devotion to Christ and the benefits that we received through him because of his death. So when we accept Jesus as the son of God (who is love) - love takes residence in our hearts. We receive a number of benefits when this happens (see Galatians 5:22-23). The evidence of those benefits is love.

Have you ever visited a friend’s home and every square foot of the space reflects their personality? Every room that you enter has something in it that makes you say “Oh, that’s so you”. That’s what it’s like when we’re filled with Christ and we let love take residence in our hearts. We should live as if love is within us. Every square inch of our lives should reflect Christ and His love. When we encounter others, they should be taken aback by the way we treat them and everyone around us.

Take a Step Back...

How does it make you feel to know that love is evidence of your spiritual benefits?

Think about the ways can you show love to others in your daily life?

Love causes us to show compassion for the non-believer. It enables us to encourage our fellow believers to continue to fight for the faith. It disarms hatred. And it makes zero sense to anyone who has never experienced it. That’s why it is so important that we show it off in every aspect of our lives. Every corner of your life should reflect this love, so whenever you invite someone into your space they’ll think, “Oh, that’s so God”.

My Prayer

Dear Lord - I thank you for whoever is reading this. Thank you for the gift of your love. I pray that you would give us the boldness to love like you do. I pray that you would reveal the areas of our lives where we need to show less of us and more of you. My hope is that our lives would so unapologetically represent who you are, that your presence in our lives would be undeniable. Give us humble hearts to submit to your will for our lives. Amen.

Photo by @tha_realjordan

It is a bold claim to guarantee satisfaction. In fact, it is so bold that you rarely see a company advertising blanket satisfaction. The statement is typically followed by a disclaimer. It is difficult to live up to a satisfaction guarantee because we, as humans, are insatiable.

I sometimes wonder why it seems like regardless of what I do, I seem to be discontent. I want more out of my career. I want more out of myself. I want more out of others. Sometimes, I even want more out of God.

The interesting thing is that I  do get more. I get more out of myself when I push my limits. I get more out of others when I communicate my expectations. And there is no doubt that God continues to bless me as I walk through life. So why is it that I still feel that I need something?

It’s in our nature, we always want more. The main reason for this is that we believe that the things of this world – self, relationships, and careers – will ultimately satisfy us. We’re thirsty for more and are drawing our water from an earthly well and expecting to be fulfilled. When Jesus met with the women at the well he told her “everyone who drinks from this well will thirst again” (John 4:13). Essentially, if we are seeking satisfaction from society’s well of success, we will always be coming back for more.

Jesus goes on to say that “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again” (John 4:14). It’s important to know that God intentionally designed us with a seemingly insatiable desire for more. It is a desire that only he can fill.

I used to think that once I accepted Christ into my heart that I would always be good. That my desires would be met by God and that I would never go through periods of feeling inadequate, thirsty, or wanting more. The truth is I feel inadequate often. I continue to desire more. Lately, I’ve been questioning my motives. What’s driving the pursuit of my goals? I can honestly say that I am using an earthly measure of success and expecting God to deliver on it. I have not asked God to align my desires with His will, in fact, I’m asking that He align his will with my desires.

I say all of this to say that sometimes we experience a spiritual dehydration. Amidst that spiritual dehydration, it is easy to return to an earthly well to quench our thirst. We’ll seek affirmation in our career. We’ll expect friends or significant others to pick us up because we’re down. We might return to bad habits that have proven satisfying in the past. While each of these scenarios might not be detrimental if you put them in a silo, the harm comes when we pursue these things with the same expectation of satisfaction that comes from the Living Water. Our motivation to relentlessly pursue more must align with what God has for us. It’s OK to want more, but whatever your “more” is, make sure it is coming from God; after all satisfaction in Him is the only guarantee.