The fruit of the Spirit: Love
But the fruit of the Spirit is love … (Galatians 5:22).
God is love. So it is no surprise that the first attribute of the fruit of the Spirit is love. The Lord Jesus Christ perfectly expressed the love of God, and the Holy Spirit produces this love in the lives of Christians. In Romans 5:5 Paul explains that the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts. It enables us to respond in love to the One who has loved us, and it enables us to love others as God loves. The Lord Jesus describes this love in John 13:34-35. It was a new commandment He gave them to love one another in the same way He had loved them. By this love people would know we are the disciples of the Lord. He also speaks of the action of this love at the other extreme in Matthew 5:44: “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.”
This love is described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 as a love that never fails. This beautiful and powerful passage of Scripture is very challenging. We can, at times, struggle to express love even to our brothers and sisters in Christ. We feel guilty about this and try harder to do better. We try to force ourselves to love. But do you remember when you first discovered the love of God? When God saved you, His love flooded into your heart. Do you remember how natural it was to respond in love to God, to your new family and to your neighbours? Remember how Zacchaeus was willing to cheerfully give half of his wealth to the poor (Luke 19:8)? When the Lord opened Lydia’s heart, she invites Paul and his co-workers into her house to stay (Acts 16:15).
And, in one of the most powerful examples of the transforming grace of God, the once-cruel jailer took Paul and Silas into his home, washed their wounds, and provided food. Joy filled his heart as he and his family were baptized (Acts 16:33-34).
The power to love comes from the One who loves us. The vine produces the branches, and the vinedresser cares for every branch. The branches simply abide. The power of life in the vine is manifested in the production of the fruit. It takes a long time to learn this vital lesson. And we have to relearn it, too, when we get drawn away from the Lord. But the Father’s patient love which we first learnt, as the prodigal son did, when we were embraced in His arms, is a love which will not let us go and would always keep us near. I am no vinedresser, but it appeals to me that when vine branches are pruned, they are made shorter and consequently closer to the vine. It is from this place they draw more effectively from the life of the vine, to grow and become fruitful. God often uses events in our lives to humble us and bring us closer to the Saviour. This is always for our ultimate blessing. And the revelation of His divine love, through the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, is always to His glory.
