by Commissioner Evie Diaz
Territorial Commander
Over all these put on love. The final spiritual fruit we will look at in this series is love.
Mark Bender, territorial corps and community mission department director, recently wrote about this kind of fruit:
“When you run into Jesus in the gospels, there’s a kind of love that defies description. It’s raging, extravagant, illogical, over-the-top. It’s revolutionary. It pushes the boundaries of how we define love.
Jesus had been preaching for a little while when He suddenly says (Luke 6:27-31, NLT):
But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. Do to others as you would like them to do to you.
Here’s what I want us to rethink: How many of us have thought of God like that or like all the descriptors Jesus just gave?
• God gives the shirt off His back to those who hate Him.
• God lends to those who will never repay.
• God loves those who despise Him.
• God gives to anyone who asks Him.
• God is kind to those we think don’t deserve His kindness.
That is a very different picture than most people have of God—distant, punishing, demanding. But this is who He really is, showing us a different kind of love.”
This is the kind of love we can share with our neighbors, family, community— and even our enemies. But we cannot love like this in our own strength or out of our own resources. It is when the Holy Spirit lives in us that we can love extravagantly and unselfishly.
This kind of love is also peace-loving, joyful, kind and good. And there is no law that keeps us from sharing this kind of love.
Share how you are experiencing and expressing God’s love in your community. Visit salarmycentral.org or email [email protected]
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)
