Let’s dive into a brief look at love in the Bible, the first of the fruit mentioned that comes by the Holy Spirit. 1 John 4:19 says, "we love because He first loved us".
All three foundational fruit – love, joy, and peace – work that way. Rooted in God’s love (joy, peace), we can produce the fruit of God’s love (joy, peace) toward Him and others. One of those key words for love is pronounced hes-ed. As you will see below in Lamentations 3:22, it defies simple explanation.
Ephesians 5:15
- Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail. - They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
Check out the complexity evident through these various translations:
- Because of the LORD’s great love (hesed) we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. (NIV)
- [Because of] the Lord's faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. (CSB)
- The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; (ESV)
- It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. (KJV)
- God's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up. (MSG)
- The LORD'S loving-kindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. (NAS)
- that the grace of ADONAI is not exhausted, that his compassion has not ended. (The Complete Jewish Bible)
Prayer for this Week of Devotions
LORD God, ADONAI, teach us about Your great, faithful, loyal, and steadfast love, Your mercies, grace, and loving-kindnesses. Every morning anew, Let us rootedness be deepened in that hesed love so that we may produce the fruit of hesed love as agents of your grace.
Theme: The Foundational Fruit of LOVE
Micah 6:8
- He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Pondering Point
We start our theme on the fruit of love with two Hebrew words for love (above right) that – one time only – are found next to each other in the Bible. The word pair, ahavat and previously mentioned hesed, are in Micah 6:8. They are often translated as “love mercy” or “love kindness,” trying to capture the idea of loving the concept of treating other people lovingly. In this triad of verbs (act, love, walk) we get three godly adverbs (justly, ?????, humbly). The middle phrase is akin to “love lovingly” – or to use other words for hesed – to love faithfully, loyally, kindly, or mercifully. God is calling His people to love the concept of loving people. Act justly – “do the right thing,” – and love being a loving person as you walk humbly with God.
Prayer
Father God, You love loving people – to the point of giving us Your own Son and having Him die for us – even while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8). Inspire our love to be sacrificial as well, rooted in our relationship to you and poured out in our relationships with others. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
"Hesed is forever in search of a translation into other languages because of its wide range of meaning. This Hebrew word carries the sense of an enduring connection that brings life and all good things into a relationship. Hesed is a kind and loyal care for the well-being of another.
Wilder, Hendricks, The Other Half of Church, page 80