After observing the warm fellowship of believers in Jesus, this was the reaction of the unbelieving Greek writer Lucian (AD 120–200): “It is incredible to see the fervor with which the people of that religion help each other in their wants. They spare nothing. Their first legislator [Jesus] has put it in their heads that they are brethren.” Near the same time that Lucian wrote, Tertullian affirmed: “It is our care for the helpless, our practice of lovingkindness, that brands us in the eyes of many of our opponents. ‘Only look!’ they say. ‘Look how they love one another! Look how they are prepared to die for one another.’ ”

According to the apostle Paul, this type of love isn’t conjured up by human activity and effort. The Holy Spirit supernaturally produces, develops, and energizes it. Paul listed love first because it was the most important characteristic from which every other attribute should flow (Galatians 5:22).

We can’t love one another, the way that Jesus has loved us, through mere human effort (John 13:34); we need the Holy Spirit to empower and enable us to do so (John 14:15-17). When we walk in step with the Spirit, He enables us to serve one another (Galatians 5:13), fulfill the law of love (Galatians 5:14-16), demonstrate love in tangible ways, and make one another the priority.

When the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives, He creates the capacity in us to discern more and more that we are brothers and sisters (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10). As we keep in step with Him, He will put God’s love in our hearts. We will be obliged to care for the helpless, to meet the practical needs of our neighbor, and to be one in heart and mind with other believers (Acts 4:31-35).

NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Exodus 20:1-22