Love

Galatians 5:22 — “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

It is no accident that Paul begins the list of the Spirit’s fruit with love. Love is the root from which all the other fruits grow. Without love, joy becomes shallow, peace becomes fragile, patience becomes impossible, and goodness becomes self-serving. Love is the mark of God’s presence in a believer’s life and the evidence that we truly know Him.

The world often confuses love with fleeting emotion or selfish desire, but the love of the Spirit is different. It is sacrificial, holy, and enduring. It looks like Christ laying down His life for sinners. It looks like the Good Samaritan stooping to help the wounded traveler. It looks like believers forgiving offenses, bearing one another’s burdens, and seeking the good of others over themselves.

This kind of love is not natural; it is supernatural. We cannot manufacture it through sheer willpower or personality. It is the Spirit who plants and grows this love in us as we abide in Christ. When He fills us, we begin to see others through God’s eyes, love them with God’s heart, and serve them with God’s hands.

The harvest of a Spirit-filled life begins with love. If you want to measure your spiritual maturity, do not look first at your knowledge or activity, but at the way you love. Are you patient with others? Are you quick to forgive? Do you seek their good even when it costs you? True love is the undeniable evidence of the Spirit’s work in your heart.