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1st Fruit of the Spirit:
Love
Love is a commonly used word. The English word love has very broad meaning, but the Greek language was very precise. The love which the Holy Spirit manifests in believers is agape. This love is not a feeling, but a choice. It is the choice to be kind, to sacrifice, to consider another's needs greater than one’s own. Love is the first and most important part of the fruit of the Spirit. God’s love changes our lives, we are transformed when we can begin to understand His (agape) love. We are now able to love unconditionally when we receive His love. Our loving Heavenly Father prepares us to love others, even our enemies. The other virtues or attributes of the fruit of the Spirit must be coated with divine love to be authentic. Every action in our lives should show this agape, unconditional love in order to us to truly make a difference to humanity.
There are four main categories that love tends to fall into – Eros, Storge, Philos, and Agape (in the Greek).
Eros: This term came from the Greek god of love. The word represents what we consider today to be “romantic love.” Eros love is what you feel when you tell someone you’ve fallen in love with them.
Storge: It is what we may call fondness or affection. It’s a natural love or something you may feel towards your family, friends and loved ones. It also can be considered something that grows out of a friendship (Philos) into a more romantic affection (love).
Philos: It is the love of friendship. It is a strong, intimate, but non–romantic love between individuals. In the Bible, it is often compared favorably with Agape love yet, while there is distinction between the two, and sometimes confused to be considered similar.
Agape: It is the love that described as the highest, purest, and noblest form of love (affection and compassion). It is the unconditional love, the love that will do anything for another regardless of cost. This is the form of love that is most commonly used in the Old Testament.
Agape is used in all of the firm love verses in the New Testament. Love is the greatest gift that God gave His loving creation. First Corinthians 13 says that agape is patient. Agape is kind. Agape never fails. God desires to show His perfect, selfless love to a world that is routinely confused about what true love is. God’s children are the conduits of His love, as they are empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Love is very much abused term, because of many individual experiences, if asked they will all have somewhat different idea about and response to it. The most prevalent notion in the Western world is that love is a warm, disorganized feeling, a thrill one gets in the pit of the stomach or a tingle running up and down the spine. We think of it as a warm sense of regard, a strong desire to be with or be satisfied by someone or something. The word love can mean many things, as can be seen from the numerous dictionary definitions. We also find many kinds of love in the Bible. Love usually refers to strong feelings, and feelings are important. God wants us to really feel love for Him and for other people. But we will see that God also wants us to experience a greater love that transcends human emotions. Many people go through life receiving very little human love. However, God’s plan is for every person to eventually experience His love flowing to Him and through Him, so fully that each can honestly release love abundantly and bountifully. “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
God intends the love of Him and the love of man to be inseparable parts of the same experience. John explains this by saying that if we love the Father, we also love the child. If we love the Father who begot the children, we must love the children, otherwise we do not have God's love.
He gives us commands in love, and they will produce right and good results. Any command of God reflects what He Himself would do were He in the same situation. A person may have a thought to do good or to refrain from evil. He may have a feeling of compassion, pity or mercy. One may feel revulsion about doing an evil action. But none of these become love until the thought or feeling motivates one to act. In the biblical sense, love is an action. Love has yet another aspect, however. We can show love coldly, reluctantly, in "dutiful obedience." We can also show it in joyous, wholehearted enthusiasm or warmhearted, thankful devotion.
Love, godly love, is the fruit, the product of that Spirit which now courses through our lives. That Spirit guides us and leads us into truth. It remains our responsibility, however, to choose to follow its guidance, to obey the truths of the great God who is creating His image in us. Obedience to His commands is godly love, the fruit of His Spirit that empowers us, the supreme virtue of the Almighty Creator. Some gifts are temporary, but there will always be love. In eternity, when we have glorified bodies with sinless minds, the Holy Spirit will be able to manifest His character in us even more. "God is love" (1 John 4:8). It is essential to His nature, and when we love, and when we seek to benefit others with no regard for the cost to ourselves, we show that we know God. Nothing can artificially manufacture the love of God in us. Love is a fruit of the Spirit. It grows in His presence. As we allow Him to change us, we can love God and love others as we should. "If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us" (1 John 4:12b).