Being Spirit filled results in the believer developing relationship-essential qualities within their demeanor. Ephesians 5:18-21 demonstrates what happens when a person is filled with the Holy Spirit. Contrary to how the NIV would have this passage rendered, in the Greek, Paul is using “resulting participles� to demonstrate what happens when one is filled with the Spirit. A resulting participle is an adjective-verb describing what results from a previous fact just mentioned in the author’s story. In the case of Ephesians 5:18-21, Paul lists five results of the Spirit-filled believer.

“Do not get drunk on wind, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit [which results in] (1) SPEAKING to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs; (2) SINGING and (3) MAKING MUSIC in your heart to the Lord; (4) GIVING THANKS at all times to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; and (5) SUBMITTING to one another out of reverence for Christ.�

Among the “Fruit of the Spirit� passage in Galatians, one observes just how many fruit are essential to relationships with other believers and just how much Paul had relationships in mind:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.� (Gal. 5:22-26)

It is not about “finding our securities� that we become faithful, kind and loving in our relationships. We also don’t experience joy in all relationships simply because we find security within our own “secure feelings� (which are fleeting and conditioned upon what other people give us anyway). True relationships are possible only because of the security and transformation found in Christ and the Spirit we receive by faith in him.

Perhaps it is better to say, “Fear is not the product of love” or “Fear does not result from love.” Love is seen as the driving force by which all of God’s commands are accomplished. It says, after all, “Love completes the requirements of the Law.” However, love is not something we can simply do, it is something we become through the work of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). In some sense you could say the opposite of a loving person is an unregenerate sinner. Such a person cannot please God and is hostile to Him (Rom. 8:7). At the center of love is the work of the Holy Spirit–love is the result of the sinner being forgiven. You cannot tell a person, “Be loving,” when they have not yet been born again. Such a person is not empowered to do the will of God.

If I were to take two people, a large mound of dirt, give one of them a bulldozer and say, “Now move this mound today,” which one is capable of doing what his boss says? Similarly, only those who have received the Spirit through faith and forgiveness can understand and do the acts of love, which are the commands of God. If a person is struggling with fear, hate, and selfishness (etc.) perhaps the barrier is not that they have fear, but an unrepentant heart which cannot receive God. After all it says, “Whoever says that they have not sinned is calling God a liar and His truth is not in them.”

Prior to love is the changed heart. Love is the result of this change, not the cause of it.

My thoughts…

Apathy is a state of mind we may resort to when hope, trust, and faith have not produced the results we want or need. And waiting for results with our hearts open and engaged in hope, trust and faith–is work. It can be tough to stay in this place of tension. First Corinthians 13:7 says that love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Apathy is a choice to disengage from the work that “bearing, believing, hoping and enduring” may cost us. Love pays the price, does the work and stays connected. Apathy disconnects.