“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” [Gal 5:22-3] Fruit is the product of a plant or tree at the end of a long season of growth from spring to summer or fall. And so it is with the fruit of the Spirit—it is the […]

When Jesus says we are to love God with all of ourselves and to love our neighbors as ourselves[Mark 12: 28-31], he is showing us the way. And when he says we are to forgive another 70 times [Matthew 18:22], he is telling us to forgive always, that there should be no limit to our […]

If you want to know how to love people, first things first—listen to them deeply. Ask about their lives, what their hopes and dreams are, what it costs them to live as they live. Ask about their faith, if they have any. And when you have a real sense of the person before you, then […]

When we say, somewhat glibly, that God is love, what are we really saying? God loves us. Yes. But more than that, he loves us with an unconditional, unchanging outpouring of love and affection, support and invitation to be in a deep relationship with him, an invitation to step into the fullness of who we […]

Paul wrote in Galatians 5:14 that all the law is “fulfilled in the Second Commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Let’s think about what this really means. Are we to love our neighbor as we love ourselves or as if he or she is me? Or is what I have come to believe about this […]

To love means to bring all of ourselves to the table. Remember what falling in love is like—the absorption in the one loved, the desire to be close to the other, the giddiness, that sensation of falling—remember that this is a phase that signals the start of love, but does not last. What I’ve described […]

“I love everyone, but I don’t have to like them.” I first heard a woman say this in a church in Charlotte and I was shocked. The sentiment I heard behind the words she spoke was a distancing of herself from anyone that she didn’t want to get to know. It’s a very convenient sentiment […]

We depend so much on our senses to show us the world, but have you considered that there is another way of looking at the world –through the eyes of the heart? Through the lens of love? When we meet someone, known to us or unknown, our senses would definitely notice someone’s projected state of […]

       Life is a gift, a wrapped present that we open bit by bit, day by day. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. It is a wonder and a blessing. However you were born, whatever you are doing with you life, step back and look with wonder at who you are, where […]

With our minds we can assert that God loves us, but what are the markers within us for knowing that we are loved? That we actually feel loved by God in every cell in our body? We are not transformed until we realize that we are loved, until we live in and with that love. […]