The previous posts we talked about hope and faith and how they were intertwined. I also mentioned that faith was part of the fruit of the Spirit, so I thought it would be interesting to go through each one. Let’s examine each component of the fruit of the Spirit. Again notice fruit is singular. We who are in Christ have all of these, not just one, or a few.
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
The Holy spirit gives us different gifts. Not all of us have the same gift, and few if any have all the gifts. But the fruit of the Spirit is different. Each Christian should have all these attributes. We as children of God have the Holy Spirit within us and through Him, we will bear this fruit.
John 15:1-5
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
Jesus says that as we abide in Him we will bear fruit. I believe He is partly referring to the fruit of the Spirit. Without Christ in our lives, we can do nothing. Without Jesus we cannot truly love; not agape love. As He loved us, we ought to love others. As we accept His love we have that love in us and can share it with others.
John 15:9-17
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another.
As Jesus tells us to love one another, He also says that we show that we are His disciples by our love. As His children we need to share His love (both in word and in deed).
John 13:34-35
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Love one another. Jesus loves us. Love your neighbor. How can we show that we are God’s children, followers of Christ? By showing our love. Showing His love. Sharing His love. We all know John 3:16. Do we really think about what that means? How much God loved us?
John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
There are many forms of the word love in the Greek . There is brotherly love (phileo) and there is unconditional love, agape love, among others. God loved us with unconditional love. That is the kind of love that is part of the fruit of the Spirit. That is the kind of love Jesus commands us to show toward others. Unconditionally.
Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Ephesians 5:1-2
Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
So what does love look like? Jesus died on the cross. God the Father gave His only Son. Everyone has heard “The Love Chapter” that Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians 13.
1 Corinthians 13:1-7
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
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.
How can we love like that? Remember, it is the fruit of the Spirit. As the Holy Spirit lives in us, he gives us the power and strength to love like that. Jesus says to abide in Him. Follow His words and His example. Allow the Spirit to work in our lives. Pray for guidance and strength. Pray that He fills our hearts with His love to share with others.
Matthew 5:43-48
“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
That is a tough way to love; the kind of love we cannot do on our own. The kind of love we can only show when we focus on the love of Christ. It’s not easy to love those who are hard to love. Do you want better relationships in life? Love more. Do you want a better marriage? Love more and forgive.
Ephesians 5:25-33
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
I think the majority (if not all) breakups in relationships come from selfishness. True love puts others before yourself. As children of God, we strive to love unconditionally, as Jesus did. We help those in need. We comfort one another in times of stress. Above all, we pray for one another. And we share the good new of God’s grace that will lead them to salvation. That is what followers of Jesus do. That is how we know that we are His children.
1 John 3:14-19
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.
A common theme in 1 John is that we are to love others. He knew firsthand the kind of love Jesus had for others. He called Himself “the disciple that Jesus loved.” We know that we are saved by how we treat others and in the way we love others.
1 John 4:7-13
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit for those who believe in Him. We are saved by His grace. When we accept that grace, He gives us the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our salvation. When the Holy Spirit is in us, we can love like He does (maybe not quite like He does; I don’t think anyone has as much love as God does, for He IS love). And when we love like that, others will know we are His and that can draw them to Christ.
My Daily Scriptures 