Love is the first fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23

"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

When you encounter someone who does not have love, they also will not have any of the other fruit. They can pretend but it will be short-lived and phony.

In order to have the fruit of the Spirit we must have the Holy Spirit Who is the essence of this fruit.

No fruit, No Holy Spirit!!!!

John 16:13-14 "13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you.…"

Notice when someone has the Holy Spirit they will not glorify themselves, they will honor and glorify Christ Who lives in them.

Someone who fights to win for superiority over others is not being led by the Holy Spirit but by their own flesh. Those who live a continual lifestyle of this are not born-again. Those who are believers will be convicted when they act self-righteous and superior, desiring to confess it and be cleansed of it by Christ Who lives in them.

The fruit can be faked for a period of time but a life that is faking will not be able to sustain the appearance of the fruit. They will and often do take out their frustration on those they believe are beneath them or those they think others don't like. There is continual anger waiting to emerge in those who are pretenders. It doesn't take very much for them to find a small insignificant reason to rage at their target.

These fruitless people think that as long as others don't see what they do to those they persecute, they can continue to fool those for whom they love bomb. It is important for fruitless prideful people to have followers who have never seen the real them, and would not believe the targets who do know the real them and have been victims of their harsh, judgmental, and angry tactics.

When we encounter those who love to demean us we can allow it to bounce off of us to Christ, we can deflect the rudeness allowing Christ to deal with them. Remember those who are dedicated to being superior to others will want us to respond while they enjoy twisting everything we say and do to make us look like troublemakers.

Proverbs 26:4-5 – Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. The self-confident fool thinks too highly of himself and his opinions, and he shares them freely."

If we must answer a fool, we must remain calm, give them no real information and exit the conversation. The more we say the more ammunition for their lies. Let God deal with them while you remain trusting in Him, calm and confident.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

"4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. 5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, 6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."