LOVE – Fruit of the Spirit
Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Do you want to know what God’s personality is like?
Ephesians 5:1 says “Be imitators of God as His dear children”.
God wants us to be like Him in character and in our behavior. After all, we are made in His image.
Therefore if you desire to be an imitator of God, then look at and learn about the 9 Fruits of the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit are the characteristics of God and in this particular post I am going to focus on LOVE. To know how to love, then you need to love like God loves.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 NKJV
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
Paul uses the Greek word “Agape” to describe the kind of love mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13.
- Agape Love is unconditional and sacrificial. It is the God kind of love.
- Agape love looks for the best in a person even whilst that person is in their worst state.
- Agape love will cause somebody to sacrifice the best of themselves for the one they love.
- God showed such love when He sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins whilst we were yet sinners.
- Agape love will not behave rudely but will treat everybody with respect and compassion, irrespective of the background, skin colour or class in society.
- Agape love does not seek its own in that this kind of love is motivated by seeking the well-being of others. With this kind of love, it’s not about what’s in it for you – but also what’s in it for the other person.
- Agape love is not easily provoked or offended. In fact, this kind of love will love its enemies.
- When somebody has Agape love, they do not think that they are better than the other person; neither do they think conceited and arrogant thoughts about themselves
- Agape love never fails. It ultimately wins.
This is the LOVE that is part of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is part of the character and personality of God. 1 John 4:8 says that “…God is love”. God wants you to show His personality of love in your own life. God wants you to love just as He loves.
As a born again Christian, God’s Holy Spirit dwells inside of you. The Holy Spirit is able to teach you, guide you and enable you to show Agape love in your life. Having such a Fruit inside of you and working in you through the enabling of the Holy Spirit will result in you being more like God in character and will bring all glory to God through Christ Jesus.
TODAY. Walk in the Spirit. Show Agape love.
