For the next few days, we will explore the Fruit of the Spirit and its different components. There is one fruit with many different parts. We have the capacity, if we are saved, to exhibit all elements of this fruit. Today, we will deal with the first part mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23, love.
Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Love is a word we hear all the time. People love everything! It is tossed out at every turn, so much so that it has lost its true meaning.
This love in Galatians only flows as a result of the Spirit’s operation on the soul. It is not just an emotional feeling. It does not turn on and off because our desires are met or not met. It is a love that involves the will, a deep-seated determination to do that which pleases God.
In a general sense, it is love that causes us to have a benevolent attitude and goodwill toward our fellow man. It also denotes the natural feelings that we should have for a family member. It springs more from who God is than from who we are. In theology, it includes supreme love for God, the true author of love.
I John 4:8 “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”
If we want to know if we are exhibiting this fruit of the Spirit, then we need to look at how God demonstrated this love. He, in the beginning, created man to fellowship with him but he did not just create him, he made sure his home would be perfect when his creation was complete. He could have made man first and let him stumble around and wait on the things he needed until creation was complete, but he chose to treat man special by preparing everything before he arrived. He’s doing the same thing now. When we enter heaven, it will be ready and perfect for us. When we love, we do special things to make others feel special. We prepare for house guests and family members ahead of time. We give of our time and resources to make them comfortable and have their needs met.
True love that flows from the Spirit is sacrificial. Again, God saw our need and gave His best to meet that need. The sacrifice of His only Son for our sins was the ultimate sacrifice. The only time in history that God would be separated from His only Son was when all our sin was poured out on Jesus. God, as a holy God, could not look upon Him. One of the most painful verses to me is Matthew 27:46, where Jesus is crying out on the cross.
Matthew 27:46 “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? , My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
We can’t truly understand that love because we have never loved it that way. However, it should cause us to love God so much that our heart’s desire is to please him. When our sole purpose is to please God, it will not seem a hard task to love sacrificially.
We are to show love for our enemies, as in Matthew 5:44.
Matthew 5:44 “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;”
We are to love those who don’t love us.
Matthew 5:46 “For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?”
We are to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Matthew 19:19 “Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
We are to love the brethren.
Romans 12:10 “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;”
As you can see from the few verses I referred to, this kind of love is all-encompassing. It truly is a love that can only come from the Spirit and can only be given by the grace of God. It is not a natural love but a supernatural love. Every Christian has the capacity for it, but most rarely nurture it.
My prayer is that I will seek to develop this kind of love in my life. I believe it is a love that we need to continually foster. We are selfish creatures because of our sin nature. Our attitude and actions need to be like John’s in John 3:30: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
