Love, the greatest commandment of all and It is also part of the Fruit of the Spirit. How many times is this word found in the Bible?
Love: Fruit of the Spirit & The Greatest Commandment
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)
I am going to start a series on my blog on the Fruit of the Spirit. I am going to take one per entry.
The “L” word is used around 697 times in the NIV and around 442 in the KJV. This includes various forms like loves, loved, etc. That is a lot of times used in the Bible! Just saying!
The greatest commandment … love
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:36-40
As you can see we are to love everyone, even our enemies. I know loving those who hurt is hard, but God ordered us to. We are to show them a Christ like love (Agape). Yes, it can be hard. When we do good onto our enemies instead of paying them back with evil, it is like we are putting hot coals on their head. (Proverbs 25:22 & Romans 12:20).
What is it?
4 Love is patient,
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
love is kind.
It does not envy,
it does not boast,
it is not proud.
5 It does not dishonor others,
it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs
.6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails.
As you can see we are to Love God and everyone. It’s a commandment, it is the greatest commandment. The above verse I believe sums it up.
Did you know that God loves us too? He first loved us too! Do you know how much? The below verse shows us how much!
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(John 3:16)
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:13)
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25)
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8)
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)
It is giving up something for someone else. When it is true is not selfish. We are to give ourselves for the other person, we think of the other person before our self. Christ loved us so much he died for our sins. We should be willing to do the same for others. If we do not love, then we don’t know God. 1 John 4:8 clearly shows us that.
We are to love God and other people, not objects, possessions, etc, (idolatry). We are to put God first! Put Him above everything!
If you are having problems loving everyone, pray to God that He will help and show you how we are to show this commandment and fruit of the spirit. Take your Bible and study it. Study His word. Look up the word “love” in the Bible, find all the scriptures on it. As I pointed out earlier in this post how many times the word was used. Hint, scroll up to see that answer in case you are skimming this entry.
Desiree has a good quote on her blog. She says Do we get it? Nothing is possible without God. We get no where without love. What is love? This was found on her post entitled 1st Corinthians 13. As Desiree also states there was 28 different ways to use the word.
If you read the whole chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 it talks about it as well.
Bankrupt without …
do not have love, I gain nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:3)
love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:8)
Even a good Christian song shares that without love I am bankrupt. The Proof of Your Love by For King and Country. The commentary compares without love being like a rusty gate, without love I am nothing, and we are bankrupt without love. (Check out the video performed for K-Love) This is also found in the Bible, See 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. That is where that comes from in their song.
Final thoughts
Galatians 5:25 says we are to live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. By showing love we are following the Spirit, we are following one of the Fruits of the Spirit. Feel free to subscribe to my blog as I discuss the rest of the Fruits of the Spirit. If you are not baring love then you may want to check your salvation as this is key for a Christian.
It will never end as stated in 1 Corinthians 13:8. As long as you are of God, you will always love. If you don’t then you truly don’t know God. See 1 John 4:8 and 1 John 4:20 God even loved us yet while we were sinners Christ still died for us, as it is stated in Romans 5:8.
So don’t become like the rusty gate or even get bankrupt by not having love. God is love! With God all things are possible. God even first loved us. He loved us so much, He gave us the best gift ever! His Son, Jesus Christ who died for our sins.
Take this time to let someone now how much you mean to them or even someone you don’t know. It just might bright their day. Spread this wonderful “L” word that God has given to us and give it to others.
Love is also a choice. We choose whom we love or not love. We don’t “fall in love” or “fall out of love” We choose! It’s a choice to do or not to do.It is also a command! It is not an emotion. Think of it this way, you cannot command an emotion. Life is about choices we choose what we do or don’t do. We are only accountable for ourselves.
Check out the complete Fruit of the Spirit Series.
Look up any Bible verse Online at: BibleGateway.com
About the Author
Great piece, Steve. I agree. Love is a choice, no different than choosing whether or not to brush one’s teeth. I wish more younger Christian couples understood that. And that they also understood that LOVE is more than just a feeling- love is going to feel different at times. It is not always going to be a butterflies in the stomach sensation.
People think it’s an emotion. You cannot command an emotion. Besides love is a commandment. And you’re right it’s not always going to be butterflies or pie in the sky. There’s going to be ups and downs. Thank you for commenting.