The Fruit of the spirit: love 

Love is probably the best-known fruit of the Spirit, but it is also probably the most misunderstood. How can we be sure that we are showing true love? 

Think of all the ways the word love is used today: "I love you, my love." "I'm falling in love". "Only true love can break the spell." "I love this chocolate." "Tell your sister that you love her and that you regret hitting her." "I do not love you anymore". "If you loved me, you would leave me ...".

What is love?

Love has been a word that has been terribly abused in today's world. It has been used in a horrible way to describe selfish sexual desire. It has been given as an excuse to passively allow frightful sins to continue in the lives of loved ones. It has been seen as an uncontrollable emotion that leads to destructive behavior, or empty words that are pronounced and said without any substance.

The love that appears in the list of the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22 is very different. It is translated from the Greek word agape , used here to express the most sublime form of love that comes from the Holy Spirit. The love that we are supposed to be demonstrating must be a love according to God, which comes from God, the being that personifies this attribute.

Let's see what 2 John 1.6 says: “And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment: that you walk in love, as you have heard from the beginning ”(emphasis added).

The love that Christians must demonstrate as the fruit of the Spirit is based on two great commandments : love of God and love of neighbor (Matthew 22: 35-40). Love can be defined as an altruistic concern that is demonstrated by the fulfillment of the commandments that God has written in the Bible. The Ten Commandments show us how to have a true relationship with the Creator (respect and proper worship customs) and how to interact with and interrelate with other human beings (avoid what the Bible calls sin, which destroys relationships).

What is love? Love is a great gift from God. The Bible tells us that love is suffered, it is kind; he does not envy, he does not pride himself, he does not exalt himself, he does not irritate himself, he does not think badly, he does not rejoice in iniquity, he rejoices in the truth, he endures all things, believes everything, resists everything and never fails ( paraphrasing 1 Corinthians 13, often called the love chapter).

Looking more like God

God is love. The apostle John describes this: “My beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is begotten of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, because God is love ”(1 John 4: 7-8; modern version).

God loved the world so much that he allowed his son to face torture and crucifixion, bearing the penalty of sins so that our sins could be forgiven and we had access to his Holy Spirit (John 3:16). Those who say they are Christians and struggle to walk as Christ walked (1 John 2: 6) understand that God wants us to demonstrate selfless love because He wants us to become as He is.

For thousands of years, humanity has tried to obtain without loving God or loving others, and this has not worked. The world is full of misery, pain, death, suffering and many other horrible realities. The version of love that the world has unfortunately does not come from God, but from Satan, a fallen angel full of resentment that will not stop in his desire to try to twist everything that God has given man.

Why does God want us to show love? It is what He is and He wants us to experience it and show others that we do not have to follow the mirage of a distorted and superficial love.

An example of love that we must follow

A good example of love for our neighbor and love for God can be found in the way Jonathan behaved towards David (We find it in 1 Samuel 18-20.) It was a difficult time. David had been chosen by God as the next heir to the throne of Israel; and Jonathan's father King Saul was furious at that.

Jonathan's father was trying to kill David. But Jonathan's altruistic love for David was so great that he did not resent or hate David for having been chosen by God, instead of him, as heir to the throne. He also challenged his father's sinful behavior, placing more value on love for God and his sincere concern for his friend (who was right) than being loyal to a family member who was determined to sin.

Jonathan's example arises in the midst of so many modern concepts of love. Jonathan did not have to sin in order to please others. He helped him not because he got any benefit, and he didn't leave God out of the picture.

An example to avoid

A sad example of the wrong kind of love can be found in the story of one of David's sons, Amnon , who fell in love with his sister. The story is found in 2 Samuel 13, and it occurred several years after David's reign in Israel had begun.

Amnon allowed his heart and lust to guide him to the point of feeling physically ill because he was unable to have sex with his sister Tamar . When he finally had the chance, he raped her and immediately disowned her, apparently forgetting how much he "loved" her. Leaving aside the horror of rape, Amnon's “love” had no love at all. It was selfish, sinful and harmful.

The end result of this was devastating for Tamar , who lived the rest of her life in isolation. Absalom his half brother hated him for this and eventually killed him.

Amnon's love did not care that rape was a sin and that it had serious consequences. It took him away from God and basic decency. Even modern society would be devastated by this example. Unfortunately, most today would not make a connection between Amnon's selfishness and his physical / sexual perspective on love and the perspectives that permeate modern society.

Self-exam questionnaire about love

What is my definition of love? Does it coincide with what God has revealed?

Do my actions show the love of God? Or do my actions show the idea of ​​love that the world has? Why?

Does my love mainly benefit me? Or does my love greatly benefit others?

Do I love God more than any human being? What evidence in my life shows it?

How do we show more love?

It is not difficult to realize that love is the most important fruit of the Spirit, when we know that God is love. How can we show more of him?

Continually, let's ask ourselves questions about our actions (was that action love for God? My neighbor?).

Write down your selfish thoughts when you discover them and decide how you are going to change the way you think about yourself to think about others. (For example: "I don't have time for these problems - I need time for myself; compare it to:" My friend needs someone to listen to his problems now, so I'm going to do my best to have time to listen to him. " )

Study and internalize the Ten Commandments of God (instructions on how to love God and our neighbor), and then strive to follow them every day of your life.

Modern society promotes various wrong forms of "love" that have not done anything different than completely destroy humanity. Christians must be an example of a different love, the love that will ultimately save humanity.