Faith That Tastes Like Love
Faith dissolves into love, changing the flavor of the whole day.
Devotional Credit: In Christ by E. Stanley Jones
Photo Credit: Unsplash
Faith and love are not rivals, they are partners. When we trust Jesus, heaven plants a new capacity within us to love people we once overlooked, avoided, or opposed. E. Stanley Jones points us to Colossians 1:4, where the church’s faith in Jesus and love for all the saints are mentioned together. Separate them and both wither. Keep them together and life happens.
We easily settle for thin versions of love. Culture urges us toward self-love and other-love but disconnected from the love of God. Jones reminds us that this never satisfies the soul. The Father’s love, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, cleanses our loves and gives them a new center. Then our loving becomes more than being nice. It becomes Jesus expressing His life through us.
This is not about becoming soft on sin or foggy about truth. Faith leans into the Son who laid down His life for us. From that cross-shaped center, love moves toward people with patience, honesty, and hope. Faith works through love. Love shows that faith is alive.
I am grateful for Jones’s steady hand here. His counsel is simple and freeing. Trust the Lord Jesus, then let that trust show up as practical, observable care for people, near and far. When our faith is real, love will be visible.
Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture
I dwell in you, and I anchor you in the Son who loved you and gave Himself for you. You were crucified with Christ, and now He lives in you. Count yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Him. Your faith is not an idea, it is union with the risen Jesus, and this union bears fruit.
Faith works through love. I pour the love of God into your heart. Let that love move you toward brothers and sisters, and toward neighbors who do not yet know Me. Clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with one another, forgive as the Lord has forgiven you, and above all put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Abide in Christ and remain in His love. As you abide, you will keep His word and your joy will be full. By this all people will know you are His disciples, that you love one another. The love of God compels you, for you are a new creation. Your faith is active, your labor is prompted by love, and your endurance is inspired by hope in the Lord Jesus.
Let the word of Christ dwell richly in you. Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. The fruit of the Spirit is love. Your heart is purified by obedience to the truth, so love one another earnestly from a pure heart. Your citizenship is in heaven, yet I send you into your street, your workplace, your home, as a vessel through whom Jesus loves.
Real-Life Analogy
Stir a spoonful of sugar into a mug of hot tea. The crystals disappear, yet moments later the whole cup tastes different. Faith is like placing that sugar into the cup, unseen but present. Love is the sweetness others actually experience. When you rely on the indwelling Spirit of Jesus, He changes the flavor of your words and actions in ways that can be tasted by weary people.
Try this in a real moment today. Before you walk into a difficult conversation, say, Lord, I trust You to love through me right now, shape my tone, my face, and my pace, and let Your kindness come out of me. You are not forcing yourself to be pleasant. You are yielding to the Holy Spirit who lives in you, confident that Jesus will express His life through your ordinary interaction.
Prayer of Confidence
Father, thank You that I am united with Jesus and made new in Him. Thank You that Your love has been poured into my heart by the Holy Spirit. I gladly count myself alive to You and available for Your purposes. I receive the peace of Christ to rule my heart and the word of Christ to dwell richly in me. I rejoice that faith is not hidden in me, it shows itself as love toward the people You place before me today. I yield to You with gratitude, trusting You to make my faith visible as practical love.
Scripture References for the Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture Section
Colossians 1:4; Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:6–11; John 15:4–5, 9–12; Galatians 5:6, 22–23; Romans 5:5; Colossians 3:12–15; Ephesians 4:32; John 13:34–35; 2 Corinthians 5:14–17; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; Colossians 3:16; Romans 8:9–11; 1 Peter 1:22; Philippians 3:20; Ephesians 2:10; 1 John 4:7–12; James 2:17–18; Matthew 22:37–39