Love

Photo by Elijah Macleod on Unsplash 

"But the fruit of the Spirit is LOVE..."

Love is a complicated word with a plethora of meanings. There are four different Greek words for love that are used in place of our one English word - I wrote about them on this blog a while back. This fact alone demonstrates the complexity and depth at which we human beings love and display affection towards one another.

However, this is a series on the fruit of the Spirit. And it makes sense that love is mentioned first, because we read elsewhere that God is love; that love is the most important spiritual gift - without love, we are nothing. 

Delving a little deeper then, the greek word used in this context is agape; which translates widely as "the love of God for man and of man for God". And my favourite thing about this, firstly, is that the Holy Spirit is at work within us to help us to understand God's love better. The very first fruit of the Spirit enables us to comprehend what it means to be loved, rather than simply how to love. With the Holy Spirit, we can better understand love as it is supposed to be.

Because love isn't always glamorous, or beautiful or pleasant. When we love, we can get hurt in the process. Love is not always reciprocated. Love can lead to pain. In the world we live in, perfect love is hard to come by. 

But in God's economy, love is always freely given and never has to be earned. As C.S. Lewis puts it: "God, who needs nothing, loves into existence wholly superfluous creatures in order that he may love and protect them." (from the Four Loves)

The best known verse in the Bible shows the extent of this love: "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son" . And that is the definition of agape love; the love that God has for us. We are loved by the one who is love, and sacrificed himself, because of love. 

Agape love, then, is inherently sacrificial. But it's not just a love God shows us. We are called to love others with the same love as God has for us. And, with the Spirit working within us, we are able to try. 

This isn't just giving a hug to a friend; or sending a card with some encouraging words. This is being prepared to sacrifice our comfort; dignity and self.  It's a prepared-to-lay-ourselves-down-for-others love. It's a caring-for-others-without-expecting-anything-in-return love. It's a love that doesn't prioritise ourselves but the lives of others. It's not the kind of love that can be portrayed in a bunch of flowers; it's the kind of love that led to a human sacrifice on a brutal cross. 

We're called to that kind of love.

The first fruit of the spirit is love. It's only the first. It's actually taken me a a while to put this first blog together, because for the past few weeks I've been trying to get my head around what it means to know that God is working within me; giving me something of his agape love for others; for myself; for the world.

It's pretty mind-boggling that the creator of the universe who is love would be willing to outwork that in our lives too. To gift us the capacity to love like He does.

Agape. The love God has for humans, and humans have for God. This isn't just how we love others, it's how we love God back, too. With everything we are; sacrificing our worldly priorities, appearance and plans. For the one who made us and formed us and died for us.

The first fruit of the spirit is a huge, mind-boggling gift. 

This is the second blog in a series on the Fruit of the Spirit. Follow the series by the label "The Gifts".