The first part of the Spirit's fruit in a follower of Jesus is the growth of love in their life. Now this is not Hollywood emotional love; this is the kind of love that the Apostle Paul talks about in his first letter to the Corinthians, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects. always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." This is the kind of love that God shows to us. He is patient with us, especially when we keep doing our thing instead of his. God is kind: he blesses us, he provides for us, he gives us his Spirit so we know we are never alone no matter what is happening in our lives. This is a special kind of kindness. God doesn't envy, he doesn't boast: God tells us who he is straight out and has no need to envy or boast because he is the creator of everything and everything belongs to him. God is not rude: go back to his kindness. God is not self seeking, he sent us his beloved Son for our sake, not his own, he sacrifices his most precious Son to pay the price of our sin. This ties into God protecting us from ourselves and from Satan. This is accomplished through giving us his Spirit to guide us and keep us pointed towards Jesus. God's love means he is not easily angered. It doesn't mean he doesn't get angry, he does: at sin and at death as we see in Jesus' tears at the grave of Lazarus, but he keeps his patience for us and controls his anger and so keeps no record of all the wrongs and sin we do because of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. God definitely does not delight in evil, God definitely rejoices with the truth, he rejoices in his Son Jesus who is the truth. I love that love is about trusting and hoping and persevering because it shows that God desires an active living relationship with us. Jesus has trusted us with his mission of making disciples and growing his church. Jesus places the hope of the world in us as the church and he never gives up on us. God's love never fails as we see in the cross.
So what does this mean for us then? How do we love like this? It sounds impossible. I love my wife and family and dear friends, but I never even come close to loving like this. But this is why the image of fruit is so important. I may not love like this, but I have a goal now for what my love should look like. This is about giving my life to Jesus and allowing his Spirit to shape me, transform me more and more into the image of Jesus. I know I'm not always patient, just ask my wife and kids, but when I look at God's love, it makes me work on becoming more patient, and more kind and less self-centered, etc. By doing so, it will strengthen my relationships with my wife and kids and others, just as it strengthens my relationship with Jesus.
The hardest part is that Jesus not only calls us to love God with everything we are and have, but he also calls us to love each other, our neighbours and even our enemies in this very same way. So before you think you have loving down, stop and take a look at all your relationships. The painful part is that we also show how deep our love for God is through how we love each other and those we don't really like. So take a look at your love level and see where it's at. Don't let the level discourage you, but like it be the starting point of growing your level of love as you seek to grow the Fruit of the Spirit in your heart, soul and life and then watch God change you in wonderful ways.
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