Let the Spirit of God Infuse You With Love (I Cor 13:4-8)
We all need a fresh infusion of God’s love for without it we become apathetic, angry and self-absorbed. We live in a world that is crying out for love, acceptance and any measure of kindness.
Illustration: A Great Motivator
Love reaches for the hurt and takes bold steps without self-interest. It can accomplish unbelievable things merely because it is so void of self-interest.
Some time ago, a teenager, Arthur Hinkley, lifted a 3,000-pound tractor with bare hands. He wasn’t a weight lifter, but his friend, Lloyd Bachelder, 18, was pinned under a tractor on a farm near Rome, Maine. Hearing Lloyd scream, Arthur somehow lifted the tractor enough for Lloyd to wriggle out.
Love was the real motivation.
Calvin Miller, “Rethinking Suburban Evangelism,” Leadership, 1988, p. 68
1. The Holy Spirit uses His intelligence, emotions and will to help leaders love according to the guidelines given in I Corinthians 13:4-7. Paul wrote, "Love is patient, kind, does not envy; it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." Ask the Lord to allow the Spirit to fill your mind, will and emotions with all of the qualities of a Christlike love.
Illustration: Act Out Love
In his book Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis wrote,
“Do not waste your time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.”
Our Daily Bread, Thursday, February 14.
2. The Holy Spirit gives us a greater appreciation of the depth, length, breadth and height of the love of God. Paul wrote, "I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Eph. 3:17-19) Ask the Lord to help you grow in your comprehension of God’s love so that you can fill every thought, relationship and ministry with the love of Christ.
Illustration: Agape Love
The Greek word agape (love) seems to have been virtually a Christian invention—a new word for a new thing (apart from about twenty occurrences in the Greek version of the Old Testament, it is almost non-existent before the New Testament). Agape draws its meaning directly from the revelation of God in Christ. It is not a form of natural affection, however, intense, but a supernatural fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). It is a matter of will rather than feeling (for Christians must love even those they dislike—Matt. 5:44-48). It is the basic element in Christlikeness.
Read 1 Corinthians 13 and note what these verses have to say about the primacy (vv. 1-3) and permanence (vv. 8-13) of love; note too the profile of love (vv. 4-7) which they give.
Your Father Loves You by James Packer, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986, page for March 10
3. The Holy Spirit helps us not to become irritable, touchy or resentful. Love helps us from over-reacting to annoyances. It keeps the fire of the Holy Spirit’s light burning as it allows God to use circumstances to trim our wicks properly so the lamp of His love can fully glow.
Illustration: Are You In Love?
A young man said to his father at breakfast one morning, “Dad, I’m going to get married.” “How do you know you’re ready to get married?” asked the father. “Are you in love?” “I sure am,” said the son. “How do you know you’re in love?” asked the father. “Last night as I was kissing my girlfriend good-night, her dog bit me and I didn’t feel the pain until I got home.”
Source unknown
4. The Holy Spirit helps us gain the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can and the wisdom to know the difference.
5. The Holy Spirit helps us find ways of building others up rather than being critical, angry, or fearful.
6. The Holy Spirit guides us in ways of adding improvements to relationships, ministries and perspectives.
7. The Holy Spirit teaches us to be sensitive to felt, perceived and real emotional, social, cultural, physical, spiritual, mental, economic, political, relational, educational, and family needs.
8. The Holy Spirit provides us with the willingness to replace our self-centeredness with Christ’s love.
9. The Holy Spirit encourages us to not harbor feelings of indignation, bitterness, or carry a grudge.
10. The Holy Spirit enables us to humble ourselves before the Lord while laying aside our pride.
11. The Holy Spirit shows us how to adapt and accept our circumstances in a beneficial way.
12. The Holy Spirit helps us cope with those who falsely accuse, abuse and persecute us because of Christ
13. The Holy Spirit allows us to bear up under any difficulty by knowing how to live with the inconsistency in others, in organizations and in various situations.
14. The Holy Spirit works through the promise of Romans 8:28 that assures us that He is able to work all things together for good as long as we love God and are fitting into His purposes.
15. The Holy Spirit permits us to not judge ourselves or take failure or insults personally. People who tend to personalize hurt, wrong or problems often get discouraged, disheartened and depressed.
Illlustration: Sing the song, "Love lifted me. Love lifted me. When nothing else could help. Love lifted me."
16. The Holy Spirit convicts us when we become too demanding. He reminds us to rely on God’s sovereign will, way and word.
17. The Holy Spirit sanctions ways that please God in all respects and bears fruit in every good work.
18. The Holy Spirit helps us implement God’s love knowing that it is greater than any other power.
19. The Holy Spirit guides us to not be controlled by our own legal, vocational, social, or cultural rights.
20. The Holy Spirit coaches us to not launch far fetched comparisons with others or become envious.
21. The Holy Spirit educates us in how to not bring up past offenses, hurts or misunderstandings.
22. The Holy Spirit inspires us to overcome any opposition, obstacle or problem because He knows that Christ’s love is greater than any difficulty.
23. The Holy Spirit energizes us to keep on going with Christ’s enduring love in the face of adversity.
24. The Holy Spirit buoys us up because love rejoices knowing the truth will win out over all things.
25. The Holy Spirit graciously supplies us with strength to overcome any temptations with God’s love.
26. The Holy Spirit empowers us to love those who hate us, persecute us and abuse their positions.
27. The Holy Spirit helps us enjoy the fellowship of other Godly people as we love one another.
28. The Holy Spirit inspires us to lovingly pray in a way that maximizes God’s purposes, processes and harvests.
29. The Holy Spirit stimulates us with limitless energy when we feel tired, discouraged and worn out.
30. The Holy Spirit discloses loving solutions when we might think there is no way out of a problem.
31. The Holy Spirit tempers us when we are apt to refer to others sins to beg for leniency in our faults.
32. The Holy Spirit lifts up our eyes to the fields that are ripe for harvesting with the love of Jesus Christ.
Conclusion: Do you love enough?
Show me a church where there is love, and I will show you a church that is a power in the community.
In Chicago a few years ago a little boy attended a Sunday school I know of. When his parents moved to another part of the city the little fellow still attended the same Sunday school, although it meant a long, tiresome walk each way. A friend asked him why he went so far, and told him that there were plenty of others just as good nearer his home.
“They may be as good for others, but not for me,” was his reply.
“Why not?” she asked.
“Because they love a fellow over there,” he replied.
If only we could make the world believe that we loved them, there would be fewer empty churches, and a smaller proportion of our population who never darken a church door. Let love replace duty in our church relations, and the world will soon be evangelized.
- OC International
Moody’s Anecdotes, pp. 71-72
