Animated by the love of the Holy Spirit.

“… and has made known to us your love in the Spirit” (Colossians 1:18).

“… and he has taught us with what love the Spirit animates you.” (translation from the French Bible NEG 1979)

Have you ever known a person who always seemed to be full of life? Was it just too much coffee or did they have a hidden secret?

Paul is describing a life of grace that is surrounded by and saturated with the love of the Holy Spirit. Love is the gracious gift of God whereby the Lord animates our lives.  

Through the Spirit we are alive with the love of the Savior to form a community of lovingkindness. The Holy Spirit pours out into our hearts the love of the Savior and it becomes a controlling force in all our relationships.

The Spirit’s love elevates and spiritually invigorates our lives, transmitting his love through us, wherever God sends us. We become a fragrant aroma, bestowing the blessing of the liberty of a life lived in the grace and love of the cross of Christ (2 Cor 2:15).  

As we live in the grace of the gospel the Spirit animates us with the love of Christ. We are alive with the supernatural love of the Savior. As we open our hearts daily to his grace the Spirit breathes the Savior’s love into our souls so that we can love each other in the manner that the Savior himself loves each of us.   

The Spirit fills us to love others as Christ himself loves us. Our lives are marked by the self-giving love of the cross. We are known as people who love each other. We are known as a community who live out the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ our Lord. Communal self-giving love becomes the central indicator that the Holy Spirit is at work in the midst of the people of God.

We live in the presence of the grace of God in order that the Spirit might fill us with the love of God so that we can transmit the redeeming love of God to the world. Through his infinite mercy, our daily goal is to be a loving community of Jesus’ followers who become the light of love to a brokenhearted world living so often in loveless darkness.