Galatians 5:22-23 (New International Version, ©2010)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Love
If I had to rank all of the above fruits in their order of possible importance, the quality of love would have to be #1. And this is why it may have been listed as #1 fruit in the above Scripture verse.
Due to the extreme importance of just this one quality, I am going to do another article on this quality and title it “The Power of Love.” This article will also be listed in the Sanctification Section of our site. There are some very powerful and profound verses from the Bible on just this one quality alone and it needs to have its own article to do it proper justice.
Here are some of the different definitions on what love is from the different Bible dictionaries and commentaries:
Unselfish, benevolent concern for another; brotherly concern; the object of brotherly concern or affection
The self-denying, self-sacrificing, Christ-like love which is the foundation of all other graces
Unselfish, loyal and benevolent concern for the well being of another
The high esteem which God has for His human children and the high regard which they, in turn, should have for Him and other people
To love, to have affection for someone; to like; to be a friend; the love of brothers for each other
One of the main messages that comes through loud and clear from studying our Bible is the extreme importance that God the Father is placing on that everyone learn how to love Him, love ourselves, love one another, and to even go as far as to be able to love our enemies and those who will try and hurt us.
However, our abilities as fallen humans to love one another is very limited. This is why it is so important for each and every Christian to work very closely with the Holy Spirit to get this fruit worked up into the core of our personalities. It is only when the love of the Holy Spirit starts to flow and enter into our personalities can we even begin to love God, love ourselves, and love one another to the degree and to the intensity that God would like to see from each one of us.
To those of you who will be entering into this sanctification process with the Lord – this quality should be listed as the #1 quality you should really attempt to put on into the core of your soul and personality. The Holy Spirit will be moving on you very early and very quickly to get this quality imparted into your mind, soul and emotions due to the extreme importance of it in your walk with the Lord.
You can be the greatest man of God and have some of the greatest gifts of God flowing through you – but if you are not walking with all of this in the spirit of love and humility, it will have all been for naught. More on this in the next article.
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