Love
The first fruit
Love heads the list of the Spirit's fruit, and Paul, in his famous chapter, refuses to leave it vague. Love is patient, he writes, love is kind; it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. He describes love not as a feeling but as a way of behaving — concrete, observable, costly actions toward real people. Love, in Paul's hands, is something you do, not merely something you feel.
This is bracing, because it makes love testable. We like to think of ourselves as loving people, but Paul gives us a checklist that strips away the self-flattery: Am I patient with this person, or short-tempered? Kind, or harsh? Free of envy and boasting and pride toward them? Suddenly love is not a warm glow we possess but a pattern of action we either practice or do not.
And notice that nearly every quality Paul lists is the opposite of self-centeredness. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not self-seeking. This is why love is the first and chief fruit of a soul in which the self has been dying — for love is precisely what grows in the space the dying self leaves behind. The deepest mark of Christ formed in you is not impressive gifts or experiences, but this: a patient, kind, unenvious, unselfish love for the actual people in your life. Is that the love growing in you?
“Love is patient and is kind; love doesn't envy. Love doesn't brag, is not proud.”
— Paul, to the Corinthians — 1 Corinthians 13:4 (WEB)
Let love grow as concrete, testable action — patient, kind, unenvious, unselfish toward real people — the first fruit of a soul where the self is dying.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God.”
Love is the easiest virtue to claim and the hardest to verify, so we grant ourselves the title and skip the audit. The interior work is to submit to Paul's checklist instead of our self-estimate — patient, kind, free of envy and pride toward this particular person — and to notice that nearly every item names the death of self-interest, which is precisely why love grows in the ground a dying self vacates. Stop feeling loving in general; start being loving in the specific.
This week, test your love by Paul's marks toward one specific, difficult person: where you are impatient, practice patience; where harsh, kindness; where envious or proud, choose the unselfish act, letting love become something you do.
It costs nothing to feel warm toward humanity in the abstract while staying short and self-seeking with the people across the table, and a vague glow is exactly the substitute the flesh prefers. But love made concrete toward a difficult, actual person is the unmistakable signature of Christ in a soul — growing in the very place the old self has been put to death.
We like to think of ourselves as loving people, but Paul refuses to let love stay a vague, self-flattering feeling. He makes it concrete and testable: love is patient and kind, free of envy, boasting, and pride. Suddenly love is not a warm glow we possess but a pattern of behavior toward real people that we either practice or do not.
And nearly every mark Paul names is the opposite of self-centeredness — love does not insist on its own way, is not self-seeking. This is exactly why love is the first fruit of a soul in which the self has been dying: it grows in the very space the dying self leaves behind. The clearest evidence that Christ is being formed in you is not spiritual experiences or gifts, but a patient, kind, unselfish love for the actual, difficult people around you. Measured by Paul's checklist rather than your own estimate, is that the love growing in you?
- Measured by Paul's checklist, is real love growing in me?
- Toward which actual person is my love most untested?
- Where is the dying self making room for love to grow?
Lord, I flatter myself as loving while staying impatient and self-seeking with real people. Make love in me concrete: patient, kind, free of envy and pride. Let it grow in the space the dying self leaves behind, the first fruit of your character in me. Amen.