Spiritual Love

On Aug 23, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in hopes that he could inspire people to put an end to racism. But, on April 4, 1968 he was assassinated by James Earl Ray, who was a racist. The battle has not ended, and as anyone with eyes, ears, and a brain knows our nation is just as racist today as it was during the '60s.

The problem wasn’t in the speech; it wasn’t in the approach taken to eradicate racism; the problem was in people. People from all walks of life, every ethnic group, every social group, and every gender group all struggle with the darkness Satan pulls down around us. He so effectively blinds us that he ends up binding us to the pain of living according to the principles of this world. The result–pain and more pain. Pain within ourselves, and pain caused towards others.

In Paul’s recognition of the struggle, he said in Romans 7:21-25, “I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God's law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?”

We are slaves to hate, to selfishness, to pain and depression. However, God did something through Christ that offered freedom. Paul continues by saying, “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.”

But how will Christ change the hatred I feel towards people because of my own prejudices? How will Christ alter my thinking so that I think first before I react in some harmful way? There is a gift God has given everyone who submits to Christ’s authority to rule over everything. God gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:37-39, “Now when the crowd who had gathered for the Feast of Pentecost heard the apostle’s speech, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brethren, what shall we do?’ Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

The good news is that God loves us enough to give us a heavenly tool, a part of Himself that will see past the temptations to be selfish, to be unkind, to ultimately be heartless. The challenge then is to identify how this gift works. How do I know when the Spirit is driving my reactions verses my own clouded heart?

Just as Jesus said that “you will know them by their fruits.” Just check out the context in Matthew 7:17-20, “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

So what is the fruit of having the Spirit control my thinking? Paul said in Galatians 5:22-24, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

The Spirit helps us understand God’s heart. The law that was given to Moses identified the actions God loves, but was never able to penetrate to the soul. It’s when God’s holy desires penetrate our hearts and we submit to His will, that’s when we see the strength to say NO to me and YES to Him.

The more I know what pleases God, the more I’ll recognize when the Spirit will nudge me in the right direction. This was exactly the result Jesus talked about in His parable of the soils. He says of the final soil, the productive Godly soil in Matthew 13:23, “And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”

God’s word reveals God’s heart. The gift God gives believers is what gives us the ability to live the way God lives. He has loved us so much, therefore we must love others that way. A feat only possible by having God’s Spirit directing our actions. Let’s truly “think of others as more important than ourselves” and change the world with God’s love.