Galatians 5:22-23 mentions “the fruit of the Spirit.” In the articles for the next few days, I will describe the different aspects of “fruit” that the Holy Spirit brings into our lives when He indwells us when we are saved. Notice that “fruit” is singular. I liken it to an orange that is one fruit with many sections. All of these comprise a single “fruit” in our lives and this means that all of them are present with the Holy Spirit. For the next few days, we will look at each aspect of the fruit.
Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” “The Fruit of the Spirit Is Love” Love, especially Agape (ahgahpay) love, is one of the main themes of the New Testament. Love is given as the main motivation for Jesus’ coming into the world to save sinners. It is also one of the main motivations for our service to God and people. Fittingly, love is the first part of the “fruit of the Spirit.” When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, He brings love with Him. This means that we do not have to search for love, or conjure up some sort of pseudo love. We have the genuine love of God in our hearts already because of the indwelling Spirit. This certainly erases any excuse that we might have for not loving people. God has planted His love within us. (Thank Him!) We are to live in love and share the love of Jesus with others. The Holy Spirit did not bring Jesus’ love into our lives to lie dormant, or to just be used with family and friends. Anybody can do that. The fact that love is a fruit of the Spirit says that it is supposed to do something in our lives and in the lives of others. In essence this means that love is a gift of God. It is a gift that is given to every Christian to be used in His service. Christian service that is given without the fruit, or gift, of love will usually come across to others as legalistic and sterile. We can learn every “plan of salvation” that has been printed, but if they are not presented with love, they will just be words. Because we are given divine love, we can learn to love the unlovable. We simply cannot say that there are people that we just can’t love. It is certainly tempting at times, because there are people who do not exactly endear themselves to us, but there is no one so obnoxious that God cannot love him or her. Since we are infused with God’s love, we can love the unlovable too. In John 5:36 Jesus said: “For if you love them which love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the same?”Anybody can love people who love them. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit to help us love those who do not love us, or who are obnoxious to us. Love should be the main motive in everything that we do. For example, why do people teach Sunday School? Is it to merely share knowledge about the Bible? If so, that is an inadequate motive. The main motivation should be because we love God, love people, and want to share God’s great love with them. It would be the same with all of the offices of the church, and in all that we do in the community. The Holy Spirit urges us with His love to serve God and people. This should do away with uninspired, half-hearted, legalistic, cold service. Think of a church with people in every office who are motivated by love. What an influence that church would have on the world!!!! It is a privilege to have love as a fruit of the Spirit, but it is also a challenge. Love makes us different from all other people in the world. Love is not an option for us. Jesus saw to that when He sent the Holy Spirit to live in us. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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