• Love

Love is the culmination of all the other fruits, how awesome that it’s listed first and is the ultimate command of God. (Matthew 22: 36-40)  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” The unselfish affection and concern for others embodies all of the other qualities of the Holy Spirit. The ability to walk in the guidance of the Holy Spirit makes following the ultimate command possible. As fallen humans our ability to love unconditionally is impossible. Only through the work of the Holy Spirit in us and the fruits it produces can we move closer to a God-like love, which is impossible to comprehend. Love is only possible because God first loved us. He held His most prized creation in very high esteem. So much so that He took on human form in His son and became our sin so that we could be reunited with Him in Heaven.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is Patient (4) and Kind (5); love does not envy or boast (8); it is not arrogant or rude (9). It does not insist on its own way (7); it is not irritable (6) or resentful (3); it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but Rejoices with the Truth (2). Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

The numbers correspond to the fruits of the spirit that make love complete.