Vessels of Love

Here is a fantastic truth: Those who have accepted Christ as their Savior are sealed with the Holy Spirit, and He dwells within them. We are then temples of the Spirit of God. 

How amazing is that?

How often would we rebel, resist the Lord, and commit public and secret sins if we kept ever before us these thoughts? 

“I are the temple of the Spirit of God. He is with me, always. He keeps me and desires me to know and seek Him. He longs for me to develop my relationship with Him. If I do these things, He will satisfy my deep inner longings in ways I never thought possible. The emptiness I could not fill with relationships, sins, escapisms, and addictions will be filled with HIM. And then, when I have spent my physical life walking with Him, I will be blessed to spend eternity with Him.”

Praise the Lord!

Though we are not physically with Christ, He communes with us. He enables us to live a life of worship in spirit and truth, by the leading of the Holy Spirit and through the Word of God. 

As children of God, we strive to live a life of worship: a heart submitted to the will of the Spirit, a life led by the Spirit, and a mind renewed continually through the power of the Spirit. As worshippers, we are transformed into ever-increasing Christ-likeness, members of a holy priesthood whose lives point to the glory of God. Because of His grace, we live as conquerors through the word of our testimony and by the power of the blood of the Lamb.

Worshippers not only experience the blessing of transformation but also share in the mind of Christ, discerning the will of God. And what is the will of God? What is His acceptable, good, and perfect will? Actions, thoughts, and words that reflect these two commands:

Love the Lord our God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And to love our neighbor as ourselves.

When we love our God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, we commit everything we are and have to Him. We seek to know Him and understand His will. Then we set about obediently, determined, and committed to carrying it out. When we love our neighbor as ourselves, we humbly “count others more significant” than ourselves and look to the interests of others.

Love for our neighbor compels us to action that is in the best interest of others.

This type of love pours from the Holy Spirit and pushes us to bear the burdens of others. When we love like this, we fulfill the law of Christ. Paul affirms this in Galatians 6:2.

The Greek word baros is used in this scripture to denote ‘burdens’ and means: heaviness, weight, burden, trouble. The Greek word bastazo, is used to denote ‘bear’ and means: to take up with one’s hands; to put upon oneself; to bear away; to carry off. Bastazo is also used in the following two scriptures:

“We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as is written, ’The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.’” (Romans 15:1)

“This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.” (Matthew 8:17)

Love led Jesus to speak with a Samaritan woman who had been married five times and was currently living in immorality. His love for the Samaritans, and His love for His Father, propelled him to go through Samaria to proclaim that He was the living water. Samaria was distasteful to the Jews, and the immoral woman would have been considered even more so. But, regarding Jesus, the English Standard Version reads, “He had to pass through Samaria.” The King James Version reads, “He must needs to go through Samaria.”

Obedient, compelling, burden-carrying love satisfies the soul, as it accomplishes the will and the work of the Father. It proclaims and declares the goodness of the gospel, which brings light to the darkness, freedom to the bound, and salvation to the lost. It is a love that is impossible to accomplish by human ability or to understand with the natural mind.

When we bear the burdens of others, compelled by love we truly walk in Christlikeness. We reflect a love that bore our sins and took our death sentence upon Himself.

Further, once we have taken the heaviness and burdens of others upon ourselves, we can not easily walk away from the weak, broken, or discouraged – but find that like Christ, we “must needs” to go to, even if it means we must go through.

As living sacrifices and temples of the Holy Spirit, we are not our own but have been saved for a purpose – to be busy about the work and will of God through faith, obedience, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

For further study: 2 Corinthians 3:18, Revelations 12:11, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Philippians 2:3-5, Romans 12:3, 1 Corinthians 2:16

For prayer on this topic, visit today’s Daily Hope & Prayer devotional.