Without the Holy Spirit wielding fruit in me, I cannot love (see Galatians 5:22-23). I cannot love as Jesus loves apart from the very One who is love indwelling me. God is love, I am not. Plain and simple. I depend on the Holy Spirit to continue the work that He started in me and carry it out to completion. Scripture says, "we love because he first loved us" and that if we love God we will love our brother (see 1 John 4:19-21). Elsewhere Paul says that Christ's love "compels us" and that we are not to regard anyone in the flesh, whether believers or unbelievers. In other words, we are to regard people according to the mind of the Spirit and not our human minds because the human mind looks on outward appearance (see 1 Samuel 16:7; 2 Corinthians 5:11-21). We are able to regard others by the Spirit if indeed the Spirit dwells in us. And the proof of the Spirit indwelling us is the love we have for others of the faith and the love that compels us to love all men, regardless of their profession of faith -- and especially regardless of our human feelings.
Christ-like love can be demonstrated powerfully toward those who do not love you in return -- or those who are difficult to love. We all have people in our lives who aren't as easy to love as others. If God is love -- if love defines Him -- then His Spirit is also love. And if His Spirit is inside you, then you will also love as He loves. Not perfectly as only God can do, but as much as humanly possible in a fallen and evil world. The perfect and divinely wise Lord has allowed a person like that into my life. This person is (at times) aggressive; other times uncouth, judgmental, and egotistical. He is in my life because he is one of my husband's best friends. When I first met said person, I constantly butted heads with him. He didn't like me; I didn't like him. As the years have passed, this same person is now one of my most beloved friends. So how can that possibly happen? People who don't get along just don't start getting along later on in life. When you have two strong personalities joined together, they will most likely repel each other, and it is impossible to find compromise when there is so much friction. The only answer is the Holy Spirit. I could go into even greater detail about the fights I've had with my husband over this person being in his life, or the raw condition of my heart back then, but suffice it to say that I really did not like him. I was convinced that he was a poor influence over my husband and that we as Christians were supposed to keep fellowship only with Christians (which would be a completely separate post in and of itself). Today I can say from a pure heart that the love I have for him and his fiancée is the very love of Christ flowing through me. This love is genuine because I know that I have changed -- and not to my glory, but to the praise of the glory of God's grace! And I guess that would be the greatest difference -- that my heart has been (and is continually) molded by the Creator of the universe. At times it is difficult to love him still and in those times I must remember to give grace as I have been given grace; to love much for I have been forgiven much.
Every time I am tempted to forego an opportunity to demonstrate Christ's love toward those I find difficult to love, I remember the piercing words of Jesus, as the Holy Spirit whispers in my ears, "'If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is
that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in
full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without
expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you
will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful
and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful'" (Luke 6:32-36, NIV). Showing mercy and kindness toward people who are ungrateful can suck the life-energy right out of you. But if our example is Christ, the greatest servant of all, then I can serve in love even when it is rejected, because then I share in Christ's sufferings. And if my prayer above all is "to know Christ and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings", being conformed into His image, then it is worth every ounce of painful toil and rejection, for He is my very great reward. May our love for Christ compel us and may we extend greater grace and forgiveness because of the greatest grace and forgiveness that has been freely extended to us in Christ.
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