Colossians 1:7-8:
“as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.”

Question: What is love “in the Spirit”? How does that work, what does that look like?

Jesus’ commands us in Matthew 5:44 to “Love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us”, and in Matthew 19:19 to “love your neighbor as yourself”. This is in complete contrast to modern society where self-love or narcissism is the norm.

In our modern world I have learnt it is very dangerous to express even mild affection for another person, and mere acts of courtesy such as opening a door or pausing before exiting a lift can result in being loudly abused by modern strong and independent women.

And on the other hand, we may find ourselves the target of hateful spite from someone we thought of as a friend, for no apparent reason.

In contrast to these topsy turvy upsets of our modern world, I have a Christian friend whose birthday cards I sign with “In His love”. This expresses a deeper love and understanding than worldly friendships can ever achieve, a love shared with a view to the unchanging and eternal aspects of life, of real life given through Christ.

The gift of having the Holy Spirit within us is life-changing, it enables us to extend God’s love to others, a far greater love than could ever come from within our fallen natural selves. This is confirmed in Romans 5:5, “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
It enables us to follow Jesus “new command” of John 13:34, to “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Following this command begins within us as we follow His command in Mark 12:30, to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

This world and all its achievements are a desert in many ways, as described in 1 Corinthians 13:1, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.”

Even while we may wonder how well we do on this, as we see and focus on our shortcomings, I find encouragement in the witness of someone new to our church – that in all his worldly achievements and success, he realised something was missing, and that was love. But he received it when he walked through the doors of our church, and has been overwhelmed by God’s love since then.

Praise God!