Fruit of the Spirit: Love
The First Fruit of the Spirit
The next few days we are going to spend some time looking at the Fruit of the Holy Spirit as laid out in Galatians 5:22-23. The first fruit listed in Galatians is love and we know that the greatest of all virtues is love1.
Jesus tells us that the two greatest commandments are to love God above everything else, and to love our neighbour as ourselves.2 He says that we are to love one another as he has loved us3 and we know it’s got to be pretty important if Jesus himself says it is.
Love our Enemies
Jesus doesn’t just tell us to love our neighbour though, he tells us to love our enemies too.4 Now I don’t know about you guys, but I can think of many times where I have found it more than a little difficult to show love to others. And they weren’t even real enemies!
But as always, Jesus doesn’t tell us to do something without first showing us how to do it first. Jesus loved his own enemies, including the biggest enemy of all; the one who would betray him in the end—Judas.
Jesus’ Example of Love
Jesus knew that Judas was going to betray him, and yet he loved him anyway. And not in the “I tolerate you” kind of way that we try to get away with. Jesus brought Judas into his inner circle. He taught him in the same way that he taught all his disciples, he served him and sat beside him and dined with him and washed his feet.
Jesus laid down his life not just for his friends, but for his enemies too.
But Judas wasn’t Jesus’ only enemy. We were all enemies of God5 and it is only because of Jesus that we can now be called friends of God.
Love doesn’t come easily to us—that’s why it is a fruit of the Spirit. Love in its truest form can only come from God. The love that God poured out for us is the same love we are called to show to others.
Preparing Our Hearts
As we follow Christ’s example of love, let’s pray for His supernatural, divine love to permeate our hearts, actions and entire lives.