Love, the Greatest Spiritual FruitSample

Love, the Leading Virtue

As we wrap up our devotional experience, we turn to a final consideration of what a theologically fueled love actually looks like. The Bible points us toward a three-directional love—love of God, love of others, and a healthy love of self.

First John 4:19 tells us that the direction of our love for God and God’s love for us has a clear pattern: “We love because he first loved us.” In fact, the Scriptures teach us that God loved us even before the foundation of the world (Rom. 9:11; Eph. 1:4–6). God’s love for us enables our love for God.

What’s more, in the contemplation of how God displayed his love for us, we might find the fuel needed to love God in return. It is the preeminent joy and responsibility of Christians to love God.

To love our neighbor is a dangerous endeavor. Loving our neighbor often involves a necessary inconvenience, as we lay down ourselves for the good of our neighbor.

While entering into the joys and burdens of our neighbors might be exhausting work, it is worthy work. As we’ve discovered so far, theology can actually help us. As we set our minds on how the Lord loves us wayward sinners, we find more than enough motivation to get out and love our neighbors. When our mind’s eye catches a gaze at just how great God’s love is for us, love will move us.

God created all things and called them “good,” but when God created man and woman, he called them “very good” (Gen. 1:31). Humans are made in the image of God, and by virtue of our Creator, there is something innately good about us. While sin has tarnished all we see and experience, and while our transgressions have taken much from us, our sin cannot take away our status as those who bear the image of our Creator.

Moreover, the command to “love our neighbor as ourselves” implies that we have a healthy measure of self-love. Christians can grab hold of theology to gain a right-sized view of who they are—which is one riddled with sin and corruption but also one treasured and redeemed by God. In the tension of life as a sinner and a saint, while we should not worship ourselves, there is certainly a place for theologically informed love of self.

It was by no mistake that love leads the list of virtues that make up the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. Love is central to both the great commandment and the Great Commission. In that one word—love—we see the fulfillment of the law.

In Colossians 3, Paul exhorts us to “put on” compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. However, just one sentence later, he writes, “Above all, put on love” (v. 14). Theology expands our minds; may it also enflame our hearts toward love. As Christians who love truth, may the life of the mind make its way into the life of our soul, helping us “put on love” in all we do.

Thank you for joining us on this reading plan!

This reading plan was based on Fruitful Theology by Ronni Kurtz. Learn more about the book and order your copy here.