The Spontaneity of Love
Real love often looks like the moments we didn’t plan—just like handing someone an umbrella in the rain before realizing we moved.
Devotional Credit: My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
Photo Credit: Unsplash
Oswald Chambers invites us to stop striving to manufacture love and instead rest in the reality that true love flows from God through us. This love—described in 1 Corinthians 13—is not premeditated or calculated. It is not the result of a disciplined self-improvement project, nor is it stirred up through willpower. It arises spontaneously, like a spring erupting from deep within, and catches us by surprise when we look back and realize how unselfish and kind we were in the moment.
When we are filled with the Spirit, love pours forth naturally and without effort. It is God’s doing, not ours. We often recognize this after the fact, when we look back and wonder how we had such patience or responded so gently. The answer is simple: Christ was living His life through us.
Any attempt to prove our love to God is a red flag that we are operating out of the flesh. The evidence of genuine love is that we didn’t plan it or orchestrate it—it happened as the overflow of God’s life within. Love doesn’t announce itself with fanfare or claim the credit. It just is. And it just flows.
Personalized Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture
My love has been poured into your heart through Me, not because you worked to deserve it but because you are Mine. You did not produce this love—it is not from you. It is patient, kind, free from pride, envy, and record-keeping. That kind of love flows from My Spirit, not your effort.
Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh, because against such love there is no law. I have crucified the self-life with its striving and performance, and now Christ lives in you. The life you now live, you live by faith in the Son who loved you and gave Himself for you.
When you notice patience rise within you, or kindness overflow, give thanks—it is the life of Christ emerging in you. You are the branch; He is the vine. Stay where you are—in Me—and My life will bear much fruit through you. Love is the firstfruit of My indwelling presence.
Stop examining your own heart for proof that you love. Look instead to Me, the source and fountain. I am not asking you to become more loving—I am your love. And My love never fails.
(Scripture references: Romans 5:5; 1 Corinthians 13:4–5; Galatians 5:16, 22–23; Galatians 2:20; John 15:5)
Real-Life Analogy
You know that moment when someone says, “Thank you for being so kind,” and you blink in surprise because you weren’t even trying? It’s like handing someone an umbrella in the rain without thinking about it—your body just moved. That’s what real love looks like when Christ is living through you. It’s not premeditated; it just happens. You realize afterward that something beautiful passed through you, and it wasn’t of you—it was Him.
Prayer of Confidence
Father, I trust the love You have already poured into me. I don’t need to prove anything, because it’s no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. What flows out of me that is good comes from You, not from my striving. So I rest today. I walk in You. And I know that as I yield, Your love will surface in moments unexpected. Thank You for making me a vessel of divine spontaneity—not to display myself, but to reveal the One who lives in me.