The Spirit Lives On
(1Corinthians
13:8) Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in
tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit.
There
are some things in life that never seem to die and according to our text “love”
is one of those things.
Even
though I have taught on the subject of love for many years, I am still not sure
that I fully understand it. All I know is that the “love” in our text is the
fruit of the Holy Spirit which means that it is also a spirit. The only way one
can experience this “spirit kind of love” is through a relationship with Jesus
Christ.
I
have read explanations and interpretations on the word “love,” ranging from the
dictionary to the writings of others, but all seem to be more “carnal” in their
interpretations than spiritual. On the other hand the ‘spirit of love’ is a
miracle, it is a mystery, and its origin is not of this world which means it
cannot be explained.
The
reason the word love is so complex is because it is used to describe an
enormous amount of feelings. These feelings may range from loving momma’s
biscuits to loving God. Obviously a word with such a wide range of uses as the
word “love” also has an equally wide range of meaning.
It
may seem strange at first to hear that the “love from God” is a spirit.
However, there are many other types of emotions that are spirits as well. Some
of those spirits are good and some of those spirits are bad.
For
example, in Numbers 5:14
it speaks of the spirit of jealousy. In Isaiah 11:2 it speaks of the Spirit of
Jehovah and the spirit of wisdom and understanding as well as the spirit of
counsel, might and the spirit of knowledge.
In
Isaiah 28:6 it speaks of the spirit of justice and in Isaiah 57:15 it speaks of
a contrite and humble spirit. Isaiah 61:3 speaks of the spirit of heaviness.
Hosea 4:12 even speaks of
the spirit of whoredom and then in 2 Kings 2:15 it speaks of the spirit of Elijah. So there are many
uses for the word spirit and the word love.
Speaking of the
spirit of something…I once took a driving tour on the King Ranch in South Texas . This ranch is one of the largest ranches in
the world and covers over a million acres. The ranch was established in 1853 by
Captain Richard King who was a very dominant man. The ranch still remains in
that family to this very day.
As I drove onto
the ranch that day the entire atmosphere changed. I actually felt that time had
gone backward 160 years to the mid eighteen hundreds. The spirit of that time
and Captain Richard King’s presence and dominance was almost overwhelming. I
did not consider that to be a bad thing, but a very real thing as to how the
spirit of a man can continue to live on.
It was even
obvious when I drove off the ranch that day onto the highway that I was leaving
the spirit of Captain Richard King at his ranch.
If the spirit of
a man is that real how much more the “spirit of love” from the Holy Spirit.
Father,
My desire is
that Your “Spirit of love” be the only dominate spirit in my life. I want
others to feel Your “Spirit of love” when around me as I felt the spirit of a
man while on the King Ranch.
Amen
posted by John Dean at
6:18 AM
