Fruit for the Holidays - Love

Do you ever feel an invisible wall go up when you are around certain loved ones over the holidays? Do you ever feel fake in your interactions as you try to act in a loving way because you just aren’t “feeling” it? It’s uncomfortable and can leave you riddled with guilt and shame. Why is love so hard?

If you resonate, I am with you. Love is not easy nor is it simple. There are plenty of questions we can ask ourselves. For example, is love a feeling or is it an action or both? Do you have to feel love before you can act lovingly? How do you even define love? Where does love come from and how can I get more of it?

If you read through 1 Corinthians 13, it describes love both as what it is and what it isn’t. It is very humbling and makes you realize that there is no way we can be loving without the Holy Spirit directing it. Love is pretty darn complicated!

If love were simple and easy, it wouldn’t be a command now, would it? John 13: 34 commands us to “love one another, just as he loves us”. Not only are we commanded to love, but we are to love just as God loves us. Ouch! This love thing is harder than it looks but don’t get discouraged. There is hope.

1 John 4:19 says, “we love because he first loved us.” This passage tells me that the first thing we must do in order to become more loving is to receive the love that God has for us. This is a love that is unconditional, unchanging, and unwavering. A love that existed before we were even born…before we did anything to deserve it. It’s a love that never fails nor ends. So, if you are feeling a little closed off from others and less loving than you would like, perhaps it is time to sit down and truly receive the fullness of the love that God has for YOU.

It is only when we receive God’s love, that we have the capacity to pass it on to others. Romans 5:5 says that “…God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” I just love how scripture says love has been “poured” into our hearts. There is no shortage of love available to us. If we abide in the Holy Spirit and let love pour into us, we can’t help but naturally pour his love out to others.

Is there any area of love described in 1 Corinthians 13 is particularly humbling?

How well have you received God’s love for you? Can you do better?

Does his love feel like more of a river that continually flows into you or a well that you must go back to time and again?

Do you have enough love from the Holy Spirit so that you can pour out to others without expecting something from them in return? Why or why not?

Scripture:

“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

“…God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:5

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. John 13:34

“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 at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends…1 Corinthians 13:4-8