Love

Of all the qualities which the Spirit wants to produce in us, love is primary. Over every virtue, we are to “put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (Col.3:14). The reason that this is our highest priority is because God himself is love (1 John 4:8,16), which is seen most clearly by his sending of Jesus to die for us (John 3:16; Rom.5:8; Eph.2:4-5).

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For this reason, the greatest of all commands is that we are to love God with our whole being, and to show our love for him by loving our neighbours, our friends, and even our enemies, just as God does, and just as Jesus lived (Matt.22:37-40; John 13:33-34; Matt.5:44; 1 John 3:16-19). Such love is an all-embracing commitment to do the best we can for other people.

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Without the Spirit of Jesus within us, that would be impossible. But “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Rom.5:5). We are called to participate in that – “put on love” – by actively looking to treat people as we think Jesus himself would treat them, and by remaining (abiding) in his love (John 15:5,9) i.e. by relying daily on the Holy Spirit, so that we can learn to “live a life of love, just as Christ loved us” (Eph.5:1-2).