When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, LET US FOLLOW THE SPIRIT’S LEADING in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another (5:19-26).

We talk a lot about outcomes at the Pregnancy Resource Center – end results or consequences of our actions or services. We know who we are and what we have been called by God to do, but we also know what the result of our ministry could or should look like. We take measurements and ask the question – Are we accomplishing what God is calling us to do?

In Galatians, we learn that the fruit of the Spirit is the outcome of the Spirit dwelling within us. This fruit (singular) has nine different characteristics, the first of which is love. God is not speaking here of “eros” love (longings or desires, most often associated with the love between a man and a woman) or “philos” love (the love of a friend for a friend). We are capable of producing these two kinds of love without the Spirit because they are both self-centered. We see examples of these kinds of love within the world today. Even those who are not following Christ can produce loving relationships.

The fruit of the Spirit is characterized by “agape” love, which is divine. It can be reproduced by man but it cannot be maintained for long without the Spirit’s help. 1 Corinthians 13 is a great description of agape love – love that seems impossible of our own strength. Agape love is patient, kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, self-seeking, or easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs, not delighting in evil but rejoicing in the truth; always protecting, always trusting, always hoping, always persevering. And here’s the big one – Love never fails.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t fool myself into believing that I can reproduce that kind of love. Only God is capable of agape. Agape is not a feeling but a response regardless of the feeling, fueled by the needs of others and not by my own desires. When I completely surrender to the Spirit, he will express agape love through me – for agape love demands to be shown and lived out.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has not pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: we know it by the Spirit he gave us. – 1 John 3:16-24

Thank you, God, for your gift of the Spirit and the work you are doing in our hearts. Lord, we give you this day and ask you to fill us with your Spirit so that we can live out the kind of agape love you desire from us. Fill us with everything that is YOU and empty us of all that is our sinful nature. May our lives produce the kind of spiritual fruit you desire today. Amen.