“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 NIV
The first fruit of the spirit that is listed is love. The concept of ‘Love’ has been used over the years in a large array of ways. People love things, such as cars or phones. People love ideas, such as an idea about decorating a house. People have loved places, Disney World. People have loved others in familial ways, the way a parent loves a child or one family member loves another family member. People love others in a platonic way, such as friends and even best friends. People love each other in romantic ways, the way a husband and wife love each other.
The love listed as a Fruit of the Spirit is none of those kinds of love. This love is referred to as Agape love. Agape love is defined as unconditional love, the kind of love that is given without expecting anything in return. Love is not a feeling but a choice and this love is sometimes hard to choose to express. When we choose to express Agape love, we are showing love to people who we may not have warm feelings towards, people who irritate us, annoy us and sometimes even hurt us.
So why would choosing to show this type of love be considered a fruit of the Spirit? Once we are saved, God begins working in us and He helps us to grow. Just as fruit is the product of growth in a plant, this fruit, love, is the manifestation of the growth inside of us. 1 John 4:8 says “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” God is love and the Holy Spirit is God working within us, so showing Agape love is showing how God is helping us to grow in our spiritual nature.
Evidence of this fruit is seen in how we treat others. When we are growing in Agape love, then we are kind in situations where we would have been rude before or we think of what others would like instead of only thinking of ourselves. Even though the growth or maturity in our walk with God does not happen immediately, each time we show love in this way, we are showing someone just a small piece of the love that God has shown to us.
Have you grown in your expression of Agape love?