Galatians 5:22,23But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
The primary fruit of the Spirit is love. Much is said of it. I Corinthians 13:4-8a says, "Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. it does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails".
Love is patient. It waits for others in an encouraging way. Love wants others to succeed. Contrast this with the impatient parent. There's a judgement that the child feels. They are nervous. They don't feel accepted. They don't feel loved.
God is patient with us. Christianity is one of the few religions that teach this. Most portray a holy, stern God. The individual lives a life attempting to live up to His approval. Not so in Christ. Jesus is our savior, when we accept Him, His approval is granted to us.
God is now the approving, loving parent that wants us to succeed. This isn't natural. Most of us need to have those pressured feelings cleansed from us. Ephesians 5:26 tells us what Christ does for the church, "so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word". In time, being in the bible and walking with Him, His love removes those negative imprints.
The second purpose of love is for us to give it to others. It's the summation of the second half of the commandments, "to love others as yourself". Those commandments tell us to honor our parents, not to covet our neighbors wife or goods, not to steal, lie or kill. The reason we need to be told those things is because we fantasize about them.
God assists us in loving others. On our own we are self seeking. He will take care of us. David said in Psalm 23:1, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." He gives us new desires and fills them. The desperation that used to drive us is replaced with contentment. We are no longer strive to meet them. We know He'll take care of us. We can pause and let the other go in front.
Others are no longer competitors, but opportunities for love. Now Jesus' challenge to go the second mile makes sense (Matthew 5:41). He gives us understanding. We were once in their shoes. We used to be desperately self seeking. We know the empty cycle that is. His love allows us to let it go and love.
The love of God is a healing balm. With it He relentlessly reached out to us while sinners. We may have ignored Him for decades. While this may have been hurtful to Him, He still pursued us. When we were reconciled He could love us more fully. Our anxiety, fear and insecurity left us wounded and a fraction of who we were meant to be. The warmth of His love penetrates and brings healing.
Lord, thank You for Your love, the greatest of the fruits of Your Spirit. It brings us wholeness, healing and a new mission to give it to the world.