Love suffers long and is kind . . . —1 Corinthians 13:4
Love is not premeditated—it is spontaneous; that is, it bursts forth in extraordinary ways. There is nothing of precise certainty in Paul’s description of love. We cannot predetermine our thoughts and actions by saying, “Now I will never think any evil thoughts, and I will believe everything that Jesus would have me to believe.” No, the characteristic of love is spontaneity. We don’t deliberately set the statements of Jesus before us as our standard, but when His Spirit is having His way with us, we live according to His standard without even realizing it. And when we look back, we are amazed at how unconcerned we have been over our emotions, which is the very evidence that real spontaneous love was there. The nature of everything involved in the life of God in us is only discerned when we have been through it and it is in our past.The fountains from which love flows are in God, not in us. It is absurd to think that the love of God is naturally in our hearts, as a result of our own nature. His love is there only because it “has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit . . .” (Romans 5:5).If we try to prove to God how much we love Him, it is a sure sign that we really don’t love Him. The evidence of our love for Him is the absolute spontaneity of our love, which flows naturally from His nature within us. And when we look back, we will not be able to determine why we did certain things, but we can know that we did them according to the spontaneous nature of His love in us. The life of God exhibits itself in this spontaneous way because the fountains of His love are in the Holy Spirit.
Journal Entry for Today-JDV
Lord, the lines in the song, “why don’t You break my heart till it moves my hands and feet”, caught my attention once again as I heard the song. Why is it that something inside must break or circumstances must become so pressurized before I move my hands and feet? I wish I could simply read the word, pray, and be changed. In fact for years I thought that is the way it worked for everybody else besides me. But the way I live my life out, I seem to get comfortable in my old ways, means and habits until storms and circumstances press me up tightly next to You. I wish I could learn my lessons and take my teaching in softer and easier ways.
And God says…”You have a mind of your own, and an old nature that has a path all its own. It is not natural for you to give up your life, and surrender it to me daily. This is supernatural. Your life has been conditioned to respond to what you can see, hear, feel, touch and smell. Your old nature seeks pleasure, all the while doing all it can to avoid pain. But if you are to be transformed, your old nature must be crucified with Christ. The natural man does not go quietly, without a fight. Often he must be broken and subdued. When this occurs in your life remember that your father in heaven loves you more than you can comprehend, and is transforming you into the very likeness of Jesus.”
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