There are nine graces spoken of. And of these nine Paul puts love at the head of the list. The fruit of the Spirit begins with love. Love is the biggie. It’s the first in that precious cluster of fruit. Someone said all the other eight can be put in terms of love.
- Joy is love exulting.
- Peace is love in repose.
- Long-suffering, (patience) is love on trial.
- Gentleness is love in society.
- Goodness is love in action.
- Faith is love on the battlefield.
- Meekness is love at school.
- Temperance is love in training.
- If we only just brought forth the fruit of the Spirit, what a world we would have! Men would have no desire to do evil.
- Dwight L. Moody
Just 9. Nine graces. But if I look at Moody’s list above then there’s no list. It’s just one grace. Just 1 huge grace. Everything is summarized in just one: LOVE.
It’s like this conversation that was taken to Jesus Christ about the greatest commandment. Watch:
“One of the teachers of the law came to Jesus. He heard Jesus arguing with the Sadducees and the Pharisees. He saw that Jesus gave good answers to their questions. So he asked him, “Which of the commands is the most important?”
Jesus answered, “The most important command is this: ‘People of Israel, listen! The Lord our God is the only Lord.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’
The second most important command is this: ‘Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself.’ These two commands are the most important.”
The man answered, “That was a good answer, Teacher. You are right in saying that God is the only Lord and that there is no other God.
And you must love God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your strength. And you must love others the same as you love yourself. These commands are more important than all the animals and sacrifices we offer to God.”
Jesus saw that the man answered him wisely. So he said to him, “You are close to God’s kingdom.” And after that time, no one was brave enough to ask Jesus any more questions”.
(Mark 12:28-34 ERV)
Notice that conversation. Love God with everything about you. Then Love your fellow man in the same way. Phew! Again only one word Love. Pour yourself into that one word Love. Just Love.
If every one of us just loved, would there be enemies anywhere on this planet? I mean if we all just loved one another, would there be any need to amass weapons of mass destruction? If we all just loved, no one would starve.
I could go on and on and on filling up pages of the evil there’s because we don’t love. It won’t do anyone any good as long as there’s no love. So let’s just learn to love our enemies. I say ‘learn to love’ because it has to be a transition to change. And for millions of people change is a hard nut to crack.
OK. Let’s take another spin here. Take a look at this article below. This is only a small extract on love your enemies.
Here’s a joke: A priest was giving a homily based on Jesus’s command to love your enemies.
“Now,” he says, “I’ll bet that many of us feel as if we have enemies in our lives,” he says to the congregation. “So raise your hands,” he says, “if you have many enemies.” And quite a few people raise their hands. “Now raise your hands if you have only a few enemies.” And about half as many people raise their hands. “Now raise your hands if you have only one or two enemies.” And even fewer people raised their hands. “See,” says the priest, “most of us feel like we have enemies.”
“Now raise your hands if you have no enemies at all.” And the priest looks around, and looks around, and finally, way in the back, a very, very old man raises his hand. He stands up and says, “I have no enemies whatsoever!” Delighted, the priest invites the man to the front of the church. “What a blessing!” the priest says. “How old are you?
“I’m 98 years old, and I have no enemies.” The priest says, “What a wonderful Christian life you lead! And tell us all how it is that you have no enemies.”
“All the bastards have died!”
Most of us, sadly, go through life with, for better or worse, and no matter how hard we try, a few people we may feel are our “enemies.” Or, more broadly, people seem to hate us. There are people whom we’ve offended and to whom we’ve apologized, but who refuse to accept our apologies.
There are people at our workplaces whom we’ve angered, who are jealous of us, or who have set themselves against us. There are people in our families who hold a grudge against us for some mysterious reason that we can never comprehend. And some people seem to dislike us or wish us ill for no good reason. It’s a sad part of human life. Click here to view the original web page at How to Love Your Enemies
Basically, and to put it less elegantly than Jesus, if your enemy behaves like a jerk toward you, there’s no reason you have to act like a jerk toward him.
Loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you is liberating. Too often we can find ourselves in pitched battles with the people who hate us, always seeking the upper hand, always noting who’s up and who’s down, always analyzing every slight.
You see this in families and even in office environments, where people are trapped in cycles of vengefulness. It wears both parties down and dehumanizes everyone involved. I’ve seen couples, for example, whose marriages are utterly destroyed by the inability to forgive; the two become like scorpions in a jar. Jesus is offering us a way out of all that.
So what Jesus tells us to do is hard, but it’s not impossible. And it’s necessary, too, because ultimately he is inviting us not only to forgiveness and love but also, to something else: freedom and happiness. Now, you have heard that it was said, and you have heard what was said to you by Jesus. He wants you to be happy.
OK, let’s bring this love-your-enemies session to a close. Do you have enemies? Get rid of them now! No, no, no. Not that way. I don’t mean you hire a hit man to go waste them, or you go hit them yourself. That’s evil. I mean you get rid of them simply by loving on them. Yeah! love your enemies. It’s hard, but one has to do the job; for now, that’s you with that assignment.
Do the love thing and the grace of the Lord shall abound. You will be so full of joy you will be thinking, “Why didn’t I do this sooner”? You will have peace that surpasses all understanding. You will feel and look youthful again because all those lines and wrinkles will disappear from your once-looking mask-like face. You will glow. You will be radiant and it will show.
So go ahead, do it. Go love your enemies. Remember to follow that link above and read the whole article to learn about those 9 graces.
Because you have decided to make your enemies your friends, great things are coming your way. Believe you me.
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Finally, say something now in the comment box below. I would love to hear your feedback.
Meantime, take care. Love God with all that you are. And Love your fellow man. After all God, you don’t see but you see God’s image in your fellow man every single day! So, kill two birds with one stone. The stone is love.
Happy loving!!
