Learning to Grow in Godly Love

There are no quick fixes to growing in godly love.  Spiritual growth is much like physical growth: it’s a process that takes time.  But just as physical growth is helped by solid nourishment, so too is spiritual growth.  Here are two avenues that will provide some solid nourishment for our spiritual growth in love in marriage.

1. Getting to know Jesus – Jesus is the perfect model of selfless love.  In Ephesians 5:25, husbands in particular are commanded to follow Jesus’ example as they seek to love their wives.  If we would seek to love like Jesus, we need to be serious about getting to know Jesus more intimately.  This happens through good fellowship with other Christians, reading God’s Word, and prayer.  Again, this is not a “quick fix”.  It is a process that takes time.  But it will aid us greatly in learning to love with a godly love.
   
   

2. Relying upon the Holy Spirit – love is explicitly called a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22).  As a result, godly love is not something that we muster up in our own strength.  Instead, it is something that God Himself empowers us to do by His Holy Spirit.  This means that we need to look to God in repentance and faith on a day-by-day basis for the strength of His Holy Spirit.

© 2003 Christian Family Life

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