“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.” 1 John 4:7 NLT

Favored Fruit

The most excellent thing we can do as we travel on our journey here on this earth is to love one another. Jesus is our true example of showing love in action. Jesus chose to be obedient to His Father when He followed through with what His Father asked Him to do—to die on the cross for all of us. The deepest love ever shown was when Jesus knelt down and prayed, “Father, if You are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from Me. Yet I want Your will to be done, not Mine” (Luke 22:42 NLT).

When we choose to develop the fruits of the Spirit as mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23, then God will allow us to be put in situations to exercise them. When we choose to develop love, then sometimes we are challenged in life to love in ways we never thought imaginable.

Love is the opposite of selfishness. Real love will always cost us something. It’s easy to love people who are nice to us, and it’s easy to love our enemies when they live far away; however, when we are faced with loving someone who is near and dear to us, the test of loving one another comes, especially when we have been wronged or treated badly by that person. This is where God reveals to us the heartache of “real” love, and where our genuine level of loving others resides.

God guided me through another love test. I was focusing on myself at first because I didn’t understand why my friend was acting hatefully to me and to others. I became confused and irritated with this experience. I continued to read His Word, pray daily, and watch for God’s direction. Over time, I gained understanding of the person, and was able to genuinely love and forgive them. Each time we crossed paths, I exercised another step in developing this favored fruit.

I’m not implying that we are best of friends, but I learned another depth of showing love. People who tend to inflict pain or anger on us usually have experienced the same by others in their past. They may or may not choose to face their pain or problem, but we need to face our situation and let God show us how to love in action. When we choose to give up our own selfish rights on a daily basis, we then can begin to walk in real love.

“We have been in God’s thought from all eternity, and in His creative love, His attention never leaves us.” ~Michael Quoist

Thank You, Lord for teaching us how to love. You are our true example. Thank You for loving us when we are unlovely. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.