The Fruit of the Holy Spirit What is love?

Question: "The Fruit of the Holy Spirit What is love?"

Answer: Galatians 5:22-23 is one of the most beloved passages in the Bible.
The "fruit of the Spirit" has also been misinterpreted as characteristics that
believers should somehow manufacture in their lives. But the key to
understanding these qualities is in the name. "Fruit" is the natural result of
growth. And "of the Spirit" explains exactly Who causes that growthits not
our striving or straining, but the power of the Holy Spirit. No amount of
human toil or gritty determination can produce spiritual fruit, but the Spirits
influence in a yielded heart can work miracles. The fruit of "love" may be the
best example. We cannot produce the type of love God desires without the
leading and strength of the Holy Spirit.

The English word love has very broad meaning, but the Greek language was
very precise. The love which the Holy Spirit manifests in believers is agape.
This love is not a feeling, but a choice. It is the choice to be kind, to sacrifice,
to consider another's needs greater than one's own (Philippians 2:3). Agape is
used in all of the hard love verses in the New Testament:

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends"
(John 15:13).

"For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we
should love one another" (1 John 3:11).

Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to
get anything back (Luke 6:35).

"For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His
commandments are not burdensome" (1 John 5:3).

It is because of love that God carried out His plan to save the world: For God
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes
in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). It is only by love
that we can keep the greatest commandments: Love the Lord your God and
love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:30-31).

Love is the greatest gift God can give. First Corinthians 13 says that agape is
patient. Agape is kind. Agape never fails. God desires to show His perfect,
selfless love to a world that is routinely confused about what true love is.
Gods children are the conduits of His love, as they are empowered by the
Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 13:113

The Way of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a
noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have aprophetic powers, and
understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, bso as to
remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 cIf I give away all I have,
and dif I deliver up my body to be burned,1 but have not love, I gain nothing.
4e
Love is patient and fkind; love gdoes not envy or boast; it his not arrogant
5
or rude. It idoes not insist on its own way; it jis not irritable or resentful;2 6 it
k
does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but lrejoices with the truth. 7 mLove bears all
things, believes all things, hopes all things, eendures all things.
8
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues,
they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For nwe know in part
and we prophesy in part, 10 but owhen the perfect comes, the partial will pass
away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I
reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For
p
now we see in a mirror dimly, but qthen face to face. Now I know in part; then
I shall know fully, even as rI have been fully known.
13
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is
love.
Ang Pag-ibig

1 Makapagsalita man ako sa mga wika ng mga tao at ng mga anghel,

kung wala naman akong pag-ibig, para lamang akong kampanang
umaalingawngaw o pompiyang na kumakalampag. 2 Kung ako man ay may
kakayahang magpahayag ng salita ng Diyos at umunawa sa lahat ng hiwaga,
kung mayroon man ako ng lahat ng kaalaman at ng malaking
pananampalataya na anupa't nakakapagpalipat ako ng mga bundok, ngunit
kung wala naman akong pag-ibig, wala akong kabuluhan. 3 At kung ipamigay
ko man ang lahat ng aking mga ari-arian at ialay ang aking katawan upang
sunugin, a ngunit wala naman akong pag-ibig, wala rin akong mapapala!

4 Ang pag-ibig ay matiyaga at magandang-loob, hindi maiinggitin,

hindi mayabang ni mapagmataas man, 5 hindi magaspang ang pag-uugali,
hindi makasarili, hindi magagalitin, o mapagtanim sa kapwa. 6 Hindi niya
ikinatutuwa ang gawaing masama, ngunit ikinagagalak ang katotohanan. 7
Ang pag-ibig ay mapagpatawad, mapagtiwala, puno ng pag-asa, at mapagtiis
hanggang wakas.

8 Matatapos ang kakayahang magpahayag ng salita ng Diyos, titigil

rin ang kakayahang magsalita sa iba't ibang mga wika, mawawala ang
kaalaman, ngunit ang pag-ibig ay walang hanggan. 9 Hindi pa lubos ang ating
kaalaman at ang kakayahan nating magpahayag ng mensaheng mula sa Diyos,
10 ngunit pagdating ng ganap, mawawala na ang di-ganap.

11 Noong ako'y bata pa, ako'y nagsasalita, nag-iisip at

nangangatwirang tulad ng bata. Ngayong ako'y mayroon nang sapat na
gulang, iniwanan ko na ang mga asal ng bata. 12 Sa kasalukuyan, tila
malabong larawan ang nakikita natin sa salamin, ngunit darating ang araw na
harapan nating makikilala ang Diyos. Bahagya lamang ang nalalaman ko
ngayon, ngunit darating ang araw na malulubos ang kaalamang ito, tulad ng
lubos na pagkakilala niya sa akin.

13 Kaya't ang tatlong ito'y nananatili: ang pananampalataya, pag-asa,

at pag-ibig, ngunit ang pinakadakila sa mga ito ay ang pag-ibig.