Love. It’s the first fruit of the Spirit. Jesus said it is by our love for one another that people will know we are his disciples. When he was asked what the greatest commandment in the Scriptures was, Jesus’ answer was love… “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said that the whole of the law and prophets hangs on the command to love God and people. One of the ultimate calls upon the Christian life
is to become people of love. Why? Because God loved us first.
is to become people of love. Why? Because God loved us first.
“We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). We are called to be people who love because our God has already shown us love in the most amazing way! He loved us so much that he sent his only Son, Jesus, from heaven to earth to live a faultless life, and then die a death he didn’t deserve, and give us a life we don’t deserve. He paid the price for our sin. And when he rose from the dead, he gave us access to eternal life in the presence of our loving heavenly Father. Imagine the kind of love that would look at broken sinners like us and give everything up so we could live with him forever! That is why we’re called to love.
He did it first.