Scripture: "The fruit of the Spirit is love."—GAL. v. 22. "God hath given us the spirit of love."—2 TIM. i. 7.
Our love, which is the fruit of the Spirit, does not consist merely in the knowledge of, and faith in, God's love as revealed in our redemption. No, the matter goes far deeper. Our love has its origin in the fact that the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, not only as an experience or feeling, but the spirit of love takes possession of us, and directs and controls and inspires. This love becomes a heavenly life-power, a disposition of the soul, whereby man tastes and knows that God is good. The Spirit gives to love such a form that it contains the commands of the divine love within itself, and thus can keep the commandments without difficulty. "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous" (1 John v. 3). When God, according to promise, writes His law in our hearts, the summing up of that law is love. It governs the life of the man wholly devoted to God, and controls his thoughts and actions. This divine love in the heart of man is a a little sanctuary, whence the child of God receives power, in obedience to the inner law of love, to live always in the love of God. This holy love includes Fellowship with God, Union with Christ, and Love to the brethren.
How can we attain to this experience? Through faith alone. The chief sign of faith in the blind and the lepers who came to Christ to be, healed, was the knowledge of their own impotence and inability to help themselves. When our eyes have been opened, and we realize that the love of God has already been shed abroad in our hearts by His Spirit, enabling us to keep His commandments and to love the brethren—then let us bow in stillness of soul before God, and adore the love which has taken possession of our hearts, until our faith can firmly say: God has indeed given the spirit of love in my heart. In the power of the Spirit I can and will love God and my fellow-men.
