Just to share the verse with you again:
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." -Galatians 5:22-23 NIV
If you really pay attention to the way these fruits are listed, it is easy to tell that Paul wrote them in that particular order for a reason. Love is listed first, because LOVE is ESSENTIAL for LIFE! If you do not understand love, you cannot understand anything else in this life. The Bible uses the word love over 500 times! (Depending on your version). Understanding love is understanding life. Do you understand love? Do you comprehend what you are saying to someone when you tell them "I love you"...? This is how Google defines love:
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The world has distorted what love should look like. I don't know about you, but that's not really the love that I want to live by. Now, I believe that love is an intense feeling, it's the verb part that I am struggling with. Sex is not love. Money is not love. Things are not love. God is love.
To fully comprehend love, we must first understand God's love for us. I thought I was in love, twice. I thought that I had love all figured out and I knew what I was talking about. But it wasn't until I had an encounter with Jesus that I even began to understand the true definition of love. He is still chiseling me and showing me how to love. He is breaking things off of me that are not of His love and molding me into the creation He intended me to be. But it hasn't been an easy walk, I have had to give up things that I definitely wanted to cling onto. But if you can't let go of the things God is asking you to let go of, you'll never move forward on your walk with Him. I think that as human beings we have a tendency to think that WE know what's best for us and that if we give something up to God, we will be sad and miserable. Can I tell you the opposite is true? God wants to bless you! He wants to give you things beyond your imagination! He loves you and He loves to see you happy. Give God the things he asks of you, and I promise you will see fruit produced in your life.
Lately I have been really focusing on what I am worth to God, and how much He loves me. The more He reveals to me about His love for me, the happier and more excited I get!
"...she is worth far more than rubies." -Proverbs 31:10 NIV
"...and worth far more than diamonds." -Proverbs 31:10 The MSG
Do you know how much a single ruby is worth? Up to $15,000. And don't even get me started on diamonds! Ladies, we all know how incredible diamonds are. They are sparkly and almost impossible to destroy. When we think of diamonds, we tend to think of what? Eternity. Lifelong commitment. Love. And guess what? We are worth more than all the rubies and diamonds in the world, because God loves us so much. Each child of God is just like a diamond, a precious jewel. You are stronger than you realize and cannot be broken, because you have a Mighty King on your side. He has a lifelong insurance policy on you! How's that for commitment?! We need to be just as committed to Him and He is to us. If He did not love us, do you really think He would send His son to pay the ultimate price for us? He sent Jesus to shed his blood to cleanse our sins, and tear the veil so that we could have an open door to our God.
So I'll leave you with these verses for tomorrow:
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." -John 3:16 NIV
"Man does not comprehend its worth; it cannot be found in the land of the living." -Job 28:13 NIV
"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved." -Ephesians 2:4-5
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." -1 John 4:7-8
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