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There are nine biblical fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) Love, the foremost fruit of the Spirit, is so wonderful that Paul describes the ideal Christian in an entire chapter (1 Corinthians 13) to praise love, which is brought to perfection through union with Christ.
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You were called for freedom, but do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the flesh, for the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. The works of the flesh are orgy, hatred, rivalry, factions, sorcery, jealousy, immorality, impurity, idolatry, dissensions, licentiousness, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, and the like. Who gratifies the flesh will not inherit the kingdom of God. The fruits of the Spirit are joy, love, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Who belongs to Christ crucifies his flesh with its passions and desires. Who follows the Spirit is humble, peaceful and generous. (edited Galatians 5:13-26)
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If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13)
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If I do not have love, I am nothing, Lord
Love is comprehensive, love is helpful,
love does not have envy, love does not seek evil.
Love never gets irritated, love is not rude,
love is not selfish, love is never bending.
Love excuses everything, love believes everything,
love awaits everything, love is always faithful.
Our faith, our hope, before God will end;
love is something eternal, never, never will end.
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