The fruit of the Spirit - love
Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law"
Paul has been talking to the Galatians about walking the Spirit and here in Galatians 5 he contrasts what this means by first mentioning the deeds of the flesh in verses 19-21 (things like impurity, immorality, sensuality, outbursts of anger, jealousy etc) with the things of the Spirit. You will note that these are called the fruit of the Spirit. The word fruit is the greek word karpos which means that which originates or comes from something. In this case, these qualities don't come from within us, but from the Spirit.
The Lord had a lot to say about bearing fruit. He told his disciples that good trees bore good fruit and bad trees bore bad fruit. This should be obvious, but the lesson for us is that all of us bear some type of fruit Luke 6:44. This is a result of either walking in the flesh or in the Spirit. By abiding in the Lord as it is talked about in John 15 or relying on self. When the Bible talks about how we are the light of the world we should remember that it is a reflected light. In other words, it isn't a light that is generated from within, but a reflection of being near the Lord.
In John 15:2,4,5,16 it says that those branches that do bear fruit the Lord prunes. This is so that those things that are dead and not helpful can be clipped away, so that we can be even more fruitful. One of the things that we should remember is that this is a lifelong process. We never come to the point where there is nothing left to prune. The Lord is always cutting away dead things trying to promote growth. And what for us can seem like a painful process at times is really for our benefit. Because it is impossible for us to bear fruit in ourselves John 15:5. The Lord says that apart from Him we can do nothing.
One of the qualities that the Lord says that we can bear through Him is love. Love is the word apage which means a brotherly love, benevolence, good will. In 1 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul goes on the describe this kind of love in more detail. One of the characteristics of this love is that it is unselfish. It is always looking out for the other, always believing the best, hoping the best, forgiving, patient and kind. This one characteristic is at the heart of the greatest two commandments in the Bible and at the heart of God himself for God is love 1 John 4:8. It is more than an attribute of God, it is who God is. If we are going to love like the Lord wants us to that we must abide close to him with trust and faith and allow Him to grow within us that kind of love for others.
Paul has been talking to the Galatians about walking the Spirit and here in Galatians 5 he contrasts what this means by first mentioning the deeds of the flesh in verses 19-21 (things like impurity, immorality, sensuality, outbursts of anger, jealousy etc) with the things of the Spirit. You will note that these are called the fruit of the Spirit. The word fruit is the greek word karpos which means that which originates or comes from something. In this case, these qualities don't come from within us, but from the Spirit.
The Lord had a lot to say about bearing fruit. He told his disciples that good trees bore good fruit and bad trees bore bad fruit. This should be obvious, but the lesson for us is that all of us bear some type of fruit Luke 6:44. This is a result of either walking in the flesh or in the Spirit. By abiding in the Lord as it is talked about in John 15 or relying on self. When the Bible talks about how we are the light of the world we should remember that it is a reflected light. In other words, it isn't a light that is generated from within, but a reflection of being near the Lord.
In John 15:2,4,5,16 it says that those branches that do bear fruit the Lord prunes. This is so that those things that are dead and not helpful can be clipped away, so that we can be even more fruitful. One of the things that we should remember is that this is a lifelong process. We never come to the point where there is nothing left to prune. The Lord is always cutting away dead things trying to promote growth. And what for us can seem like a painful process at times is really for our benefit. Because it is impossible for us to bear fruit in ourselves John 15:5. The Lord says that apart from Him we can do nothing.
One of the qualities that the Lord says that we can bear through Him is love. Love is the word apage which means a brotherly love, benevolence, good will. In 1 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul goes on the describe this kind of love in more detail. One of the characteristics of this love is that it is unselfish. It is always looking out for the other, always believing the best, hoping the best, forgiving, patient and kind. This one characteristic is at the heart of the greatest two commandments in the Bible and at the heart of God himself for God is love 1 John 4:8. It is more than an attribute of God, it is who God is. If we are going to love like the Lord wants us to that we must abide close to him with trust and faith and allow Him to grow within us that kind of love for others.
