THE ACTIONS OF SELFLESS LOVE
“…having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ..” Philippians 1:11a
I’m an introvert by nature. I’m content to have no people around me for days upon days. I’m content to shut my phone off, find a good book, and separate myself from the rest of the world until Jesus returns. I yearn to be anonymous in my world. I told April years ago I’d be content to live in Recluse, Wyoming. The town’s name fits me to a “T.”
Does that mean, then, if you approach me, I’m cringing inside and hoping you will go away? Does it mean my smile and concern for you is not genuine?
Of course not. Because God has not called me to be a recluse. He has called me to bear righteous fruit. In order to bear righteous fruit, I have to be around people. Such a bummer! Why can’t I bear righteous fruit by myself?
God commands me to insert myself into people’s lives and allow them to insert themselves into my life. It’s the fundamental premise of selfless love.
Some theologians number God’s commands at 1,050 while some say 613. The actual number doesn’t matter. What matters most is recognizing every commandment deals with either our relationship with God or with each other.
With either relationship, God summons us to bear righteous fruit. With Him, we bear fruit by worshiping Him, by learning His Word, by bringing glory to Him by how we live, by making Him first in our lives, no matter what.
With the people in our ‘community,’ we can bear righteous fruit in a myriad of ways. It can be as simple as a smile or a hug or as large as standing before a stadium of people and teaching God’s Word.
Regardless of the situation, we must literally be in front of the person. To worship God, we must be in front of Him; to learn from His Word, it must be open in front of us. We certainly can’t offer someone a loving, reassuring hug from far away. As an introvert, I’m tempted to say, “Is it okay if I just think about hugging you from afar?” All introverts are thankful for social media and emojis that indicate we care. Yet, as Believers, we can’t live there.
If we attempt to bear righteous fruit, it can’t be through gritted teeth. It can’t be like going to work and watching minutes tick by until we can go home, saying, “I put in my time.”
Instead, we’re called to bear righteous fruit “…which comes through Jesus Christ.” This creates a magnificent difference. Remember when our parents taught us to ‘be good,’ whatever that meant? Our parents supplied a roadmap to ‘being good,’ which they expected us to follow to the best of our abilities. When we didn’t, we were led to the proverbial woodshed. After a few trips to the woodshed, we wisely decided to follow our parents’ ‘be good’ roadmap.
God’s roadmap to ‘be good’ is considerably different. Our call, Believers, is to bear righteous fruit through our Savior Jesus. He is our entire motivation in bearing righteous fruit. He is our power source. We are not to try to bear righteous fruit on our own, but only through Him. No woodshed threat exists in this scenario.
Our capacity to produce righteous fruit stems from His bountiful capacity to produce righteous fruit in our own lives. His fruit possesses nine incredible qualities as described in Galatians 5:22: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control.”
The greatest of these, of course, is selfless love as it states in 1 Corinthians 13:13. But think of the power developed when we combine selfless love with joy, or selfless love with humility. Then we take that power and pour it into another person’s life—a person who is hurting or searching. The combinations can work in so many ways: patience with goodness, faithfulness with selfless love, self-control with peace.
Simply, Jesus’s fruit within us becomes our fruit in someone else. Therefore, we Believers can never become recluses. Who has God put in your path so that you would bear righteous fruit in that person’s life?