Sweet Fruit

So the question comes, "Do we experience the fruit of love1 most when we are the center or object of love, or when we are the ones loving?"

I think most people lack love in their lives because they give so little. The woman who neglects her children and her marriage will find very little fulfillment in either. She will spend her time looking for love when all the while it could be found in her home. When we invest in the lives of others, especially those who God has placed in our homes, we will find satisfaction. The world teaches us it is better to receive than to give, but our Saviour said just the opposite. Throughout the Scripture we see that when we meet the needs of others God will meet our needs (see Isaiah 58).

So, when we are the ones doing the loving we will find more satisfaction. This is true even if we are never acknowledged by the ones we are loving. Because the Scripture teaches that whatever we do to others, it is as if we have done it to the Lord (see Matthew 25). In fact the woman who gets no return for her love may be the one who is rewarded most! For the Bible says if we do our works to be rewarded by man then that is reward enough, but if we do them without reward then God will be the One who rewards! Talk about motivation to love those who do not know how to return love! So, wives who find it difficult to love their husbands with a passionate love, I encourage you to stir it up and look to God's reward! Or anyone who finds it difficult to love, follow Christ and love the unloveable, and you will soon be tasting the sweet fruit of love. Let us cast off the desire to be the center or object of love and let us consider others better than ourselves and love with the love of Christ. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it.

Love Through Me

Love through me, Love of God,
Make me like Thy clear air
Through which unhindered, colours pass
As though it were not there.

Powers of the love of God,
Depths of the heart Divine,
O Love that faileth not, break forth,
And flood this world of Thine.

-Amy Carmichael


1 When I use the term "fruit of love," I simply mean joy and pleasure.