Cultivating
the Fruit of Love
If you were to do a search
on the word ‘love’ in the Bible you would find that it is scattered throughout
the pages of Scripture. In fact, the
word love appears in almost every book of the Bible. Love is a central theme of God’s own nature
and character and his revelation to man.
Three of the most significant themes of the Bible are faith, hope and
love. In 1st Corinthians 13:13 the
apostle Paul writes, “And now these three
remain: faith, hope and love. But the
greatest of these is love.” Here we
see that love is the apex of the Christian life. In fact, I
would venture to say that the rest of the fruit of the spirit (joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) flows out of love
itself.
But what is the ‘fruit of love’
and how does the Bible define it?
Firstly, if we were to
look at a more worldly perspective on love it might look something like:
- Love is primarily
based on feelings and emotion
- Love is having my
needs met
- Love is based on
conditions and the performance of others
- Love is
self-focused (self is the object)
The above definition is
why so many people fall out of love.
They are largely basing love on an emotion and the barometer of having
their personal needs met. While I am definitely
not minimizing the importance of feelings or genuinely having our needs met in
relationships, this is not the biblical definition of love or the fruit we are
called to cultivate.
From a biblical
perspective love is something completely different. Here is a sample of what the Bible conveys
concerning love:
- Love covers all
wrongs (Proverbs 10:12)
- Love is sincere
(Romans 12:9)
- Love builds up (I
Corinthians 8:1)
- Love does not
indulge in the sinful nature but serves others (Galatians 5:13)
- Love is patient
and kind (I Corinthians 13)
- Love is not
proud, rude, self-seeking or easily angered (I Corinthians 13)
- Love does not
keep a record of wrongs (I Corinthians 13)
- Love does no harm
to its neighbor (Romans 13:10)
- Love seeks to love
and pray for enemies (Matthew 5, Romans 12)
- Love is the
fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:10)
- Love strives to
be one in purpose and spirit (Philippians 2:2)
- Love covers a
multitude of sins (I Peter 4:8)
- Love drives out
fear (I John 4:18)
- Love is primarily
God and other-centered (Matthew 22:37-40)
In 1st John 3:16 the
apostle John enlightens us on the ultimate biblical definition of love by
stating, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus
Christ laid down his life for us. And we
ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” Here we are informed that the true essence of
the fruit of love is humility, other-centeredness, and self-sacrifice. The apostle Paul elaborates on the concept of
Christ’s example of sacrificial love in Philippians 2:5-8 as he writes that
Christ: made himself nothing, took on the
nature of a servant, humbled himself, and became obedient to death. Christ demonstrated the heart and soul of the
fruit of love by laying down his life for us that he might personally pay the
penalty for ‘our’ sin, restore us to a right relationship with God, and enable
us to have life to the full (John 10:10).
One would think that the direct
opposite of love is hatred, and in many ways it is. However, the
ultimate antithesis of the fruit of love is self-centeredness or
self-preoccupation. The more we are inwardly
motivated by a love of self the less we will grow and mature in the fruit of
love. In Philippians 2:3-4 the apostle Paul
elaborates more on this biblical concept of love as he calls us to, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain
conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own
interests, but also to the interests of others.” Here we are called to actually have an inward,
humble attitude that others are more significant than we are, and that we are
to look to their interests more than (or at least as much as) our own. This type of love is other worldly and often
not an easy thing to do, yet this is the very fruit of love we are called to
cultivate.
So how do we cultivate
this fruit of love? The only way to
cultivate true love is to gradually and inwardly let go of self. There is no magical formula, pill, or
step-by-step procedure to weed out selfishness and self-centeredness. It is a slow process of dying to self. The simple matter is that the more we hold on
to self and selfish desires the less we will grow in love. Jesus
said, “If anyone wants to be first, he
must be the very last and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35) It appears that sacrificial and loving acts
are a universal language. Wherever you
go people are impressed with those who sacrifice their time, energy, and very
lives for the sake of others. In fact,
everyone I meet with tells me they feel a genuine sense of goodness inside when
they have reached out and done something for the sake of someone else. This is because this kind of love flows out
of God’s very nature and character, and is the kind of love he intends for us to
display as his people. Cultivating the
fruit of love simply starts by taking the proactive step to do something
outside of yourself for the sake of someone else.
