I Cor. 13:4-7

Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast; It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; It is not irritable or resentful; It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

How impossible is godly love! As many times as I have memorized and mediated on this passage, I still have not even come close to this kind of love. Why is that? Could it be that I value my flesh and my will more than I value others? If I loved like this, I would be doing nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility counting others more significant than myself. I would not be looking only to my interests but to the interests of others. In order to do this, I would have to have the mind of Christ within me. But how? I think that is the ministry of the Spirit within me. As He grows me, then this love blooms and grows into full flower. The more I abide in Jesus, the vine, the more that I produce His fruit, the fruit of love.

Father,

Teach me to love like You did and continue to do. Help me to abide in Jesus so that Your Spirit can produce spiritual fruit.

In Jesus name,

Amen