by Amanda Baker
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.
There are many familiar passages in Scripture that many of us could probably quote from memory. But one of the beauties of the unending fathoms of truth from the Word of God, this passage strikes me again with the depth of God’s love for me. The Fruit of the Spirit is a single fruit that is produced by the Spirit in Christians as we allow Him to work in us. It is not a mistake that the first part of this fruit is love. It is on this principle of love that a Christian will see all other parts of the Fruit of the Spirit produced. Someone has related all the other parts of the Fruit of the Spirit to its basis – love – as follows:
- Joy is love exulting or rejoicing.
- Peace is love resting.
- Longsuffering is love enduring.
- Gentleness is love caring.
- Goodness is love transparent.
- Faith is love unwavering.
- Meekness is love submitting.
- Temperance is love overcoming.
There are a few things we can gather by looking at how Christ interacted with people while He was on this earth. By the example of Christ’s passion for all men while He was on this earth, we should be challenged to love ALL people like He did. Following His example, we will love even those who despise and hurt us because His love for us is never conditional on our love for Him. Lastly, He proved His love for us in His actions – He died for us because He loved us, not because we deserved His love.
Romans 5:8 – But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
How often do we just give lip-service in our love for Him and for others? If we are exercising the love He displayed for us, we will love Him and others with our concrete actions rather than just with lip-service. While the world tells us that love is feeling that we should give into, take some time to mediate on the greatest love that we Christians have been shown and follow His example in exercising true love.