Galatians 5:13(KJV) ‘’ For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another’’.
“But by love serve one another”. Love seeks to fulfill first the desires of another. In fact, that is the definition of true love. Love is that force within a person causing him to desire someone else’s welfare more than his own. Unless we can honestly say we desire the other person’s happiness more than we desire our own, we shouldn’t flippantly tell that person, “I love you,” especially if that person is God. To love God is to desire His will be done more than we desire our own will. To love others is to desire to see them blessed.
Nothing short of the Spirit of God Himself can empower us to truly love others, to desire their welfare more than our own: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). We may not be called upon to give our lives for someone else, but we may well have opportunities to give part of our material possessions so someone else may be benefited. That’s when we must be led by the Spirit because our flesh will rebel. The flesh is not capable of such love because by its very nature it is self-centered.
Scientists tell us the drive for self-preservation is one of the strongest of the inborn human traits. It goes against the grain of our human nature, our flesh, to put others first, especially when it means we may suffer loss. That’s why our natural human nature is never able to please God; it’s too centered on self. The only way anyone can be freed from the selfish human nature is by receiving within him a new nature, a new Spirit that is not self-centered but selfless. That Spirit, if heeded, will lead the person in paths of righteousness and truth and blessing.
Learn to heed the Spirit within you. His counsel may not always seem logical, but that’s because it’s not based on human logic but on God’s will. When He says to give away what you desperately need for yourself, don’t be afraid to comply. It may not seem natural, but if it were the “natural thing to do,” it probably wouldn’t be the “God thing to do.” “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over” (Read Luke 6:38). God rewards obedience to His Spirit. The Spirit of God is the nature of God. And what is God’s nature? John, the beloved apostle, told us “God is love” (1John 4:16).
Therefore to be led by the Spirit of God is to be led by love, the force that puts the other person’s welfare ahead of our own. Christians are under law. We are not under the Mosaic Law, but the law of Christ(Galatians 6:2). There is a difference between being under the Mosaic Law, and being under the law of Christ(love). Law is imposed from the outside, love impresses from the inside. Law compels; love impels. Law is what we do because we have no choice; love is what we must do because we do have a choice. Law is what our bodies are forced to obey; love is what our hearts won’t allow us not to obey.
Go into today knowing that Nothing short of the Spirit of God Himself can empower us to truly love others, to desire their welfare more than our own.
Prayer: Lord, help me walk in your nature of love always. Help me to stay filled with the Spirit this week and beyond. Amen.
—George Evuarherhe Djorhogba
Yearly Bible Reading: Isaiah 45-50 (In Devotional Audio)
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