Fruits Of The Spirit - Learning To Love

The fruit of the Spirit - it's a very well known mini-passage in the Bible. But I have often found myself wondering how exactly to apply it to my life. How does one simply get Love, Joy, Peace and all the rest to become part of your spiritual make-up?

Well it turns out that the Bible is full of verses that are a wonderful guide for the journey. I want to share a few verses about each "fruit" with you over the next several posts. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

Love

The first fruit that is mentioned is Love. Jesus does say that all of the laws and commandments are joined together in the word "Love".

Psalm 18:1
"I will love You, O Lord, my Strength." 
Love is a choice!

Proverbs 17:17
"A friend loves at all times."
Love should never be based on actions and happenings.
Hosea 14:4
"I will heal them from their backsliding, I will love them freely..."
We should always love freely, without reserve!

Matthew 5:44
"But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those that hurt you, pray for those that spitefully use you and persecute you...for if you love those that love you, what reward have you?"
Our love should never be confined to those who are nice to us.

John 15:12
"This is My commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you."
Jesus is love, He is perfect love. We should strive to love as He loves!

Romans 13:8-10
"Owe no man anything except to love one another, for he who loves has fulfilled the law. For the commandments 'You shall not commit adultery' ' You shall not murder' ' You shall not steal' 'You shall not bear false witness' 'You shall not covet' and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."
If we put all of our actions through the filter of love then every commandment (and fruit!) will be fulfilled in us.

1 Corinthians 13:1-8 &13
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
No study on love is complete without this beautiful chapter. Love truly is the greatest of all things!

What is your favorite verse or passage about love? Please share it with me in the comments! And stay tuned for the rest of the Fruit.