Fruits of the Spirit series: God’s Unconditional Love

“But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature together with its passions and appetites. If we [claim to] live by the [Holy] Spirit, we must also walk by the Spirit [with personal integrity, godly character, and moral courage—our conduct empowered by the Holy Spirit]. We must not become conceited, challenging or provoking one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5:22-26, AMP)

The Fruits of the Spirit remind me of Sunday school lessons. No matter where you go to church, odds are, if you were a kid there was some kind of poster or coloring sheet that had pictures of apples, oranges, bananas, grapes, etc. and they all were labeled with a different fruit of the Spirit. There are songs that we learn in order to memorize them, and maybe you were given a piece of candy or a prize if you could list them all off the top of your head.

As we get older, the term “Fruits of the Spirit” feels like a Christianese phrase that is glossed over and never really thought about beyond that Sunday school lesson from decades ago. It’s kind of on the same level as the armor of God, or the Ten Commandments: really, it’s a foundational idea to the Christian walk, but it’s reviewed so often that we forget the precious values these things hold for us to spiritually mature past the Bible basics.

In all reality, the Fruits of the Spirit are the benchmarks of Christ’s transformation within our hearts, because those fruits are the characteristics of God Himself. In our flesh and sin, we will always be led astray, and drawn to things that displease God, but as we become more like Christ and draw nearer to Him, His characteristics become our own.

And no, it’s not always black and white. Are non-believers capable of kindness? Joy? Peace? Love? Yes, they are. But that’s why I like the way the Amplified version of the Bible lays out these fruits, because it specifies these fruits to be borne out of time spent in God’s presence. Can we love others without having ever been in God’s presence? Yes, we can, but the difference is we cannot love others with a Godly love without first being exposed and living within, and being transformed through that spiritual nearness to the Father.

So over the coming weeks, I want to look at each fruit and talk about where that fruit comes within God’s character in scripture, either from God Himself or through someone that spent time in His presence. Then, I want us to challenge ourselves to search out that fruit in our own lives. If we see those characteristics abundant in our lives, awesome! If not, we know where God needs to continue to work in our hearts. I hope that over the weeks, God will reveal something new and exciting through these verses that maybe grew stale and irreverent in our hearts over time.

First, is love. 

Finding love within God’s presence seems like an easy and obvious thing. After all, “For God so LOVED the world that He gave His Son…” (John 3:16) All through the Bible, God’s love is written of and exalted. If you’re reading this today as a born-again Christian, then you know full well of God’s love; how it is unconditional, deep, and passionate enough to sacrifice Himself for. God’s love is everywhere: when He spared Adam and Eve’s lives at the Fall, choosing to redeem sinful mankind rather than blot it out and start again. He loved when He brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt to give them the land he promised them through Abraham. He loved when He gave Sarah, Hannah, and Elizabeth the desire of their heart: to bear a child after years of infertility, the same story with vastly different women and generations apart in time. He loved when He stood with Shadrach, Meschah, and Abednego in the middle of a fiery furnace, saving three men faithful to their God above all else. He loved when He embraced Peter on the shores of the Sea of Galilee after the cross, and after Peter denied Him. 

He loved when He met you, the night you asked Him into your heart, knowing there was a lot of work to do– knowing you’d sin time after time– continuing to love you enough to convict you of the things you’ve done and even currently do, so you can be made to be more like His Son, Jesus.

Because yes, love is a Fruit of the Spirit. It is a love that comes straight from God’s heart, showing us to love passionately in a way that sacrifices ourselves– our desire, our agenda, our comfortability– and prefers not only other people, but prefers Christ above anything else. Indeed, Christ-like love teaches us to lay down our self and take up our cross every day. It shows us that there is a higher pursuit beyond all the things that make me feel safe or happy or popular. Because yes, there are fruits that come directly from God’s Holy Spirit and they are the evidence that we have been in the presence of God and known Him on a personal level, but there are also practices of sinful nature.

“Now the practices of the sinful nature are clearly evident: they are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality (total irresponsibility, lack of self-control), idolatry, sorcery, hostility, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions [that promote heresies], envy, drunkenness, riotous behavior, and other things like these. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21, AMP)

There are things that, without God, we will never be able to overcome; practices that are natural to our flesh that, when practiced, will put us further and further from His all-important presence in our lives. Just as the scripture above says, those that practice these things, carelessly living in blatant, unrepentant sin, will not inherit the kingdom of God. In other words, they will be turned away from eternal life, permanently separated from His presence after this life.

And that means we can’t just shrug our shoulders and claim that we’ll shape up later. We can’t just flippantly claim that being righteous and holy is too hard and God will forgive us later. We cannot be unrepentantly sexually immoral and yet filled with Godly love. We cannot be blatantly jealous, hostile, divisive, or idolatrous and yet say we will inherit the kingdom. Why? Because if we are filled with God’s love, we will be moved to a conviction that will motivate us to sacrifice ourselves in the name of Godliness. 

And that’s a hard truth to swallow. It’s an even harder process to put aside our flesh with all its pleasures, in order to take up our cross and live a life in sacrifice to God. Believe me, there are certainly things within my own heart that I have to constantly lay down in pursuit to be more like Jesus: my pride, my language, my jealousy. But that’s why it is a privilege to be able to lean on God in the moments when my flesh wants to win out. 

Lean on His love, friends. Let that unconditional love search your heart and convict you of the things that you need to lay down in order to be more like Jesus.