‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuff ering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.’
Galatians 5:22-23. When talking about love, the fruit, we must question ourselves, “What do I think about love?”. Because, to different people, in different places, it means different things. To some, it is friendship, affection or family. To others, it is romance or passion, yet some others view it as selflessness or sacrifice. Whatever the case is, our awareness of what we view love as is necessary to gauge it against what God–the word of God–refers to love as, especially with regards to love, the fruit.

Reading through Scripture, love is sacrificial. John 3:16 tells us of the love of God expressed through the sacrifice of His son, making a way for people to receive everlasting life.

This shows us that the source of all true and unconditional love is God. The parable of the prodigal son depicts perfectly Romans 8:35-39 that talks about how nothing–absolutely nothing–can separate us from the love of God. One would think that after the prodigal son did all that, the father would turn him away or at the very least, accept his proposition to be made a servant. No! The opposite, in fact, is seen. A feast is thrown and merriment is made.

Experiencing this love and eventually expressing it starts with receiving it. Romans 8:39 says that this unconditional love is available in Christ Jesus. The only reason one can love–whether God or any man–is entirely due to the fact that we were first loved. He gave us the template for love. This makes any ‘love’ outside of God sketchy.

What God’s love teaches is that love is beyond a feeling. It is a choice and an action. Like in John 3:16 and the parable of the prodigal son, we see it expressed in choices and actions. God chose to send His son and sacrifice Him. The father chose to welcome his son and celebrate his return with the fattened calf. It is in Jesus asking God to forgive His persecutors because they were unaware of their faults. It is not in envying, boasting, evil thinking or being prideful. It is in kindness, endurance, hope, belief. It is a decision made daily. It is a lifestyle.

It is important to know this because it shifts the understanding of love as a feeling to love being something more tried and true, steadfast. Feelings fade. Feelings are temporary, but no, not love. Love is consistent. It grows by consistent actions empowered by the Holy Spirit.

It is one of the best ways to identify a disciple. It does not care about barriers. Like the Samaritan who took care of the Jew (supposedly, due to geography) even though Jews and Samaritans were notoriously antagonistic towards each other.

So, to be a person who loves truly and unconditionally, we must stay connected to Jesus, the source of love. The Bible tells us in John 15:5 that the way to bear–much–fruit is by abiding in Jesus. Love, as we have established already from Scripture, is a fruit. A branch cut off from the tree withers up. Suppose there were fruits on the branch before that, even those get rotten, corrupted.

Also, since love is a fruit of the Spirit, we must surrender to the Spirit daily. The NLT of Galatians 5:22 says, ‘But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love…’ It’s like a factory, we surrender, and the product is the fruit.

As we surrender, He gives instructions that we need to obey. Our obedience is our love in action. It is clearly stated in John 14:21. It says that the ones who accept and obey God’s commandments are the ones who truly love God.

Finally, we must understand that love is the foundation for every other fruit, so let all you do be done in love.

‘Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God;
and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 
He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.’
I John 4:7-8