Yeshua Loves You With The Fruit of The Spirit

As valiant as this is, he admits that Yeshua’s love surpasses knowledge. We really don’t know how much he loves us.

I was challenged with this one morning.  I had a message prepared for that evening, but the Lord told me, “I want them to know how much I love them.  Can you tell them?”  That wasn’t what I had prepared, but it seemed like an obvious request.  “Yes, of course I can!” 

But as I thought about it, I had to admit that I could try to tell them, but I likely would not be able to.  I hardly knew where to start.  I thought about how I experienced Yeshua’s love.  He tailors his love to each one of us with just the exact thing that he knows will touch our heart, things only he can know, words that have meaning for us beyond what any other person could understand, or a sentiment that connects several of our experiences together.  His love is different for each person.  How can I ever describe it?

One of the things I’m constantly amazed at is how perfectly Yeshua displays the Fruit of the Spirit.  His love for us is often shown in ways that can be described as the Fruit of the Spirit. 

Galatians 5:22-23:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

While I so enjoy and appreciate the many numerous ways he loves us supernaturally, these nine ways are also things that we can aspire to in our love for each other.  In his ministry, Yeshua perfectly exemplified what these nine qualities look like in real life.  As we see him loving us in these ways, we are inspired to love others in the same ways.  Here are just a few examples of Yeshua’s display of the fruits.  I hope these will bring to mind times when he’s shown you these qualities.

LOVE

John 11:33-38

“Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.  And He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to Him, ‘Lord, come and see.’Jesus wept.  Then the Jews said, ‘See how He loved him!’  And some of them said, ‘Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?’ Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.”

Here we see Yeshua so emotional about Lazarus’ death.  Weeping, groaning, troubled — it was obvious to those looking on just how much love Yeshua had for him.  He feels our pain and knows our grief, because he loves us deeply.

JOY

Zephaniah 3:17

“The Lord your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”

He rejoices over us!  That’s not just his collective bride, or inhabitants of Israel, but this is his demeanor over each one of us individually. He’s joyful about us, he celebrates us!

John 15:9-11

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”

Yeshua not only takes joy in us, but he desires that our joy may be filled to the fullest extent.  He’s giving us instructions on how to keep his joy dwelling inside us, so we can live joyfully.

PEACE

Matthew 8:23-27

^“Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’  But He said to them, ‘Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?’ Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.  So the men marveled, saying, ‘Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?’”

How many times has he calmed your storms?  This is another way he loves us, responding to our fears with peace that surpasses all understanding and with more than we can ask or imagine.

PATIENCE

Matthew 18:21-22

^“Then Peter came to Him and said, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’  Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”

You hope it doesn’t come to that, but that is what Yeshua is willing to do for us and has done for us, likely without us even realizing it.  The principle is that he’s not keeping count.  He just keeps forgiving us when we ask.  As I grow in my walk with him and look back at what he’s brought me through, it becomes painfully obvious that his patience is truly amazing.

KINDNESS

The account of the Samaritan woman at the well is such a heart-warming display of kindness beyond Yeshua’s mission, despite the cultural barriers and even regardless of the personal snubs.  His kindness toward us knows no bounds and never gives up.

John 4:7-26

⁷ A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” ⁸ For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

⁹ Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

¹⁰ Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

¹¹ The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? ¹² Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

¹⁵ The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

¹⁷ The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”

Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”

¹⁹ The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. ²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”

²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. ²² You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. ²³ But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. ²⁴ God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

²⁵ The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming.  When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

GOODNESS

Luke 23:39-43

^“Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, ‘If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.’ But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.’”

Imagine what Yeshua has been through in the 24 hours leading up to this moment. He’s bloodied, pierced, tortured, mocked and jeered at.  But he takes this opportunity to do one more act of love – he does the righteous thing in every situation we can imagine.

FAITHFULNESS

John 21:15-17

^{15 “}So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”

He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”

¹⁶ He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”

He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”

He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

¹⁷ He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”

And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”  Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.”

After Yeshua’s crucifixion, Peter denied knowing him three times.  And even before that, Yeshua told Peter he would be sifted, but prayed that even so, his faith would not fail.  He knew Peter would turn back to him.

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:31

And after his resurrection, Yeshua provides a way back through redemption from the three denials to three proclamations of his love in John 21.  Yeshua is faithful to us even when he knows we won’t be.

GENTLENESS

John 8:1-11

² “Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. ³ Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, ⁴ they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. ⁵ Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” ⁶ This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

⁷ So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” ⁸ And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. ¹⁰ When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”

¹¹ She said, “No one, Lord.”

And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

Brilliantly gentle. Yeshua takes what could’ve been the scene of a gruesome death or great humiliation at a minimum, and quietly turns the accusers away one by one.  Then he shows nothing but love to the adulterous woman.  He doesn’t try to teach her a lesson or punish her sin. His act of gentleness said it all.  This is the same way he treats us when we’re caught in the act of our sin.

SELF-CONTROL

Luke 22:47-51

^“And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him.  But Jesus said to him, ‘Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?’ When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, ‘Lord, shall we strike with the sword?’And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answered and said, ‘Permit even this.’ And He touched his ear and healed him.”

This act of love fits in several categories – patience, kindness, goodness.  It’s probably the exact opposite of what most people would do.  Yeshua would not even have had to go with the soldiers if he didn’t want.  He could’ve overpowered them and given himself up on his own terms.  But again we see him not only preventing more bloodshed, but submitting to the soldiers to the point of healing one of them, so that he could fulfill the prophecies leading up to his death.  He possesses such power and yet, instead chooses to act with love, even toward his enemies.

These are just a few examples of how Yeshua loves us with the Fruit of the Spirit.  There are a thousand other ways, but these nine are easy to remember.  I encourage you to take a minute every day to reflect on the Fruit of the Spirit and the love that he shows toward you.  As we recognize the depth of his love for us every day, our heart is softened and we can’t help but display his love and character to others. 

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