Love As a Fruit of the Spirit

Love is the first fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22.

In our culture, we say we “love” everything. It doesn’t matter whether we are talking about a person, a place, or a thing—we love it all. “I love this coffee.” “I love my BFF.” “I love my spouse.” All of these are instances where we express fondness or affection toward something or someone. But most of the time, those feelings are based on a specific condition. 

For instance, we may only love coffee because it has our favorite creamer. But tomorrow, if we were served the same coffee with a subpar creamer, we may very well exclaim, “Ew, I hate this coffee. It’s disgusting.” In this instance, the right creamer was the condition for our fondness. 

He gives us the ability to love others with the same kind of unconditional love that He loves us with.

Or, with friends or family, we may only say we love them because they are doing what we want them to. Today’s exclamation of “I love my BFF,” may be merely an expression of affection because he just did us a huge favor. But tomorrow, if we are hurt by something thoughtless he says or does, we may very well exclaim, “You are the worst. I can’t stand you!” In this instance, the correct behavior was the condition for our love. This is often how humans “love” each other.

But when we say, “God loves you,” we are talking about something different—something better. God’s love is unconditional love, which means love without any conditions. God loves us even though we mess up and are far from perfect.

If we were that coffee personified, He would love us whether we were the cup of coffee with the world’s best creamer in us or a two-day-old, microwaved cup of coffee with spoiled cream in us. If we were the BFF in the example above, God would love us the same on the day we did a huge favor for Him as on the day we hurt Him by being thoughtless.

This is why His Word says He loved us even while we were sinners (Romans 5:8).

But, that unconditional love God has for us does not give us an excuse to go on acting in spoiled, hurtful, thoughtless ways. Just the opposite is true. Jesus gives His followers a command in John 13:34–35. He says, “Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

When we accept God’s love (and forgiveness through Jesus) and when we are filled with His Spirit, He gives us the ability to act more like Him. He gives us the ability to love others with the same kind of unconditional love that He loves us with. Of course, we can’t do that on our own. We just can’t. Humans cannot love each other the way God loves us unless God’s Spirit produces His fruit inside us.

If God’s Spirit does live within us, we have access to tremendous power—the same power that raised Jesus from the grave (Romans 8:8–11) and the same power that enables us to love others without conditions. That means you can love your friends when they mess up, your spouse when they are thoughtless, and even your enemies when they hurt you and tell lies about you.

It isn’t easy, but it is possible—with God. Love is part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and it comes straight from God. If you would like to love people better, like Jesus does, ask the Holy Spirit to help you grow in your ability to love. Ask Him to develop in you an unconditional love for Him and for other people.