Now THAT’S Love

Love is in the air, especially this week, right? I find it fitting that my first shift as a Bradenton Booster Club Spring Training Volunteer lands on Valentine’s Day. If you know me, you are aware that I LOVE the Pittsburgh Pirates…even when they don’t deserve it! In a twist of fate that only God could have orchestrated, I was able to connect with a Booster Club member from back home and he invited me to get involved. I am very excited to be an official member of the club and part of the Pirate family. As my daughter often says, “I’m living my best life!”

Another thing I’ve gotten involved with during my time in FL is the Women’s Bible Study at the church we’ve been attending down here. We are studying the Fruit of the Spirit. One of the characteristics of that fruit is LOVE. We learned about different types of love last week, one of which is agape. It is described well in a familiar passage often read at weddings—1 Corinthians 13.

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”     

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NLT      

I can’t speak for you, but those four verses point out how terribly short I fall from demonstrating agape love. There’s a reason—only God is capable of that kind of love! The Holy Spirit working in me and through me is the only reason that I ever get it right. I guess that’s why it’s called the “Fruit of the Spirit”—the source of our “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” is God in the form of the Holy Spirit living inside each of his children.

Agape at its best is in another familiar Bible verse:

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16 NLT

Now THAT’S love! God went to the greatest of lengths to give us the privilege and honor of being part of His family. I certainly don’t deserve such love. That’s called grace!

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too.”

1 John 5:1 NLT

As excited as I am about the opportunity to be part of the Pittsburgh Pirates family, it pales in comparison to being a child of God and part of His family. The Pirates sacrificed next to nothing to invite me into their family; however, God made the ultimate sacrifice—His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ. He doesn’t discriminate—the invitation is there for ALL of us. Have you accepted it? If you haven’t and you’re reading this, it’s not too late. Come, be part of the family. You won’t regret it!