Fruit of the Spirit, Love
I of 9
I of 9
By: Matthew Cortinas
LOVE
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
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Paul’s underlying theme of the letters to the Galatians, is the focus on the Grace of God!! this was supplied to us by the crucifixion,death,and glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ!
The Fruit of the Spirit in our lives is evidence of the sanctifying presence of the Holy Spirit. He works in us..Changing us, changing our character, our thoughts, actions,motives,speech and
ultimately our attitude towards sin! It is referred to in the singular (Fruit. not Fruits)but it shows the many facets of the nature of God. You only need to look at the life of Jesus for the perfect example of the Fruit at work!
The Holy Spirit should replace our worldly ways, habits, and attitudes. It will produce the qualities of God! As seen in Gal. 5:22-23 the fruit is listed and the first on the list is considered the MOST important…
LOVE
1 Corinthians 13:4-13
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with
the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for
knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect
comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a
mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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This Love is the “AGAPE” love of God. This word is derived from the Greek.Agape is selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love. Agape perfectly describes the kind of love Jesus Christ has for his
Father and for his followers. Agape is the term that defines God's immeasurable, ongoing, outgoing, self-sacrificing concern for lost and fallen people. it is without condition, to those who are undeserving, and it does not rely on any value or worth in the person being loved!. A simple way to summarize agape is God's divine love!
Now, imagine if Christ, just before the cross, went to the garden and thought; I hate this feeling,
I don’t feel like doing this, so I will base my decision upon what I feel.(“mmm..I think I’ll pass on this one”) If that had happened, we’d all be hopelessly doomed to hell. The good news of
course is that Jesus resisted and fought back His feelings and even though He prayed three
times to have this pass, He was more interested in doing the will of the Father than what He felt like doing…thankfully. Jesus displayed His love for His Father & His will by going to the cross
and dying for sinners and those of us whom were still His enemies and desperately wicked. So
I’m telling you all that love is not dependent upon feelings and emotions because feelings are one of the shallowest and most unreliable of all human emotions. Instead we must emphasize that love is a choice more than a feeling because feelings are fleeting, while love is displayed in actions.
The bottom line is that love is what a person chooses to do, not what a person chooses to feel.
John 3:16
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
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So,God so loved the world because why? Because He felt like it? Yes! He does love us but that love required action and that included the supreme sacrifice of His only Son’s life. That was the ultimate love in action.This type of love is not of human origin.
Romans 5:10
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. To die for an enemy is not what humans do. That is a God-type of love. Jesus died for us while we were still His enemies and while we were sinners. He loved us first. He took the
initiative. We didn’t. Agape love is the kind of love that God had for us, while we were still dead in our sins. A love that is poured out for us like Jesus’ blood was poured out for sinners. End.
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for Your deep love towards me and thank You for sending
Your only begotten Son, my Saviour Jesus Christ to suffer on the cross for my sake, Lord I know that I do not deserve Your love and yet You have showered unconditional love and grace
towards me through Christ – for which I praise and thank You. AMEN
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