SPIRIT SLICES: Love

Galatians 5:22‭-‬23 (NKJV)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

I’ve been going over these two verses at length with the children in our church the last several weeks, and I know I will continue the next few weeks as well. So much rich truth is contained here for believers to consider. I don’t want to “preach” on each point in this post and those that follow, but I do want to elaborate on them some for the sake of application in our modern times.

Of course, from the focus of my site, you can tell I enjoy tech, but I don’t “love” it. All of us might say that we “love” some thing, but it’s not true. No, you see: Love is to be shared with the living, not the inanimate. It’s also not just some lovey-dovey feeling we bottle up for when we meet “the one”. I believe it to be Scripturally sound direction for us to love others; that’s all others too, including those we don’t agree with and those who show us no good will. Love is so needed in this world and so powerful that even though God is described in Scripture as being truly nameless (“I AM”), God is equated with love. That’s remarkable and worth consideration beyond a small thought.

Through the experience of love, we can truly know God deeper; it’s actually the only way to experience Him. Scripture shows that without love, we are truly empty and hopeless. I could elaborate on the different types of love espoused in the Bible, such as “eros”, “phileo” and “agape”, but I’ll blanket these with a concept to consider: To love another, whatever the form, is to be invested in them, to care for them and about them, and to worry about their present circumstances, their entrapments of the past, and, ultimately, their future in eternity.  Love isn’t random encounters or impersonal, empty chatter, be that in person or online. No, love is intentional and well-meaning.

Love seems to be so well known in this world, because we hear and say it so often, but it’s obvious most just don’t get it. They’ve bought a distorted view, when they’re still hungry for the real. We must get it and show it, and it comes only as a fruit from the Father.

As a fruit of the Spirit, it should be evident in all believers…Is it evident in you?