August 30
Ecclesiastes 1-2
Psalm 99:1-5
Proverbs 21:18-19
Galatians 5
Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
“For you were called to be free, brothers; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh but serve one another in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by another. I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:13-16, 22-23
The entire law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. The law filled scrolls and scrolls! There were rules and regulations for everything including religious festivals, food, sacrifices, work, leisure time, money, illnesses, debts, etc. They even had specific laws about a woman’s period. Paul says in these verses that the whole purpose of the law is loving our neighbor as ourselves. God knew from the very beginning that we are selfish, sinful beings, and we would not treat each other with love all the time. He gave us a system of rules and regulations that would teach us how to treat others. Unfortunately, the law didn’t really work because we still tended to treat others in ways that were not loving. We bite and devour others, and, in the end, we are the ones who are consumed. So, in His love for us, He provided a better way. On our own, we are incapable of truly loving others and treating them like we would want to be treated. He gave us a helper to assist us. When we come to Jesus as our Savior, He provides the Holy Spirit who comes and lives in us. He fills us with His presence, and we no longer have to walk on our own strength and power, but we have access to His strength and power. Verses 22-23 tell us that the fruit or benefit of having the Spirit indwelling us are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control.
We are not capable of manufacturing those things ourselves. We are not loving, patient, gentle, good, etc. They do not come naturally to us, and they aren’t supposed to. We are sinful, flawed humans who are selfish, mean, bad, and have very little self-control. But through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can exhibit all those traits in increasing measure as we grow and mature in our faith. We cannot be patient with difficult people, but the Holy Spirit who lives in us can. We can’t exhibit self-control when tempted, but the Holy Spirit in us can. We can’t have joy when we are facing trials, but He can. We can’t be kind to people who are mean and rude, but the Holy Spirit can do that through us. As we grow in our faith, He begins the slow process of developing those things in us. Just like a body builder must develop muscles by using them, we develop these fruits by being forced to apply them. We develop patience by being in situations where we need patience. We develop self-control by making wise choices over and over. And we learn to love others by developing relationships where we have to consider others’ needs above our own. As we cooperate with His leading, we ae able to experience the fruit in our lives.
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