Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

The difficulties in identifying fake love is the prominence of love in society. It is seen as the most common and desirable of emotions. We all have a sense of love, to love and be loved. We were created to love and be loved. Our capacity to love is so great it is hard to distinguish God’s perfect love from man’s idea of love. This is what God says about His love.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

That is a really good list of attributes. I measure my quality of loving acts based on this list. I come up short in some cases but towards my wife I do a fairly good job. But does adherence to principles mean that my love is Agape, perfect love? It is more likely erotic love and friendly love. (Eros and Philio) From my wife’s point of view it might seem to be Agape. But is it?

The disciplined acts of love point to the disciple, not the author. What if you mixed the acts of love with obedience of faith? The author of our faith would send His love through you to be received by the object of your attention. These acts would not be limited only to those you know and love in a familiar sense. They would be extended to strangers, perhaps even enemies.

The issues of Agape love are the same as those of the power of the Holy Spirit, they are of God and are not subject to our command nor our stain. They remain perfect. We do not possess Agape love we are possessed by it.

Psalms 68:18-19 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.

I am captivated by His love.

John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

The fruit spoken of here is the fruit of the Spirit. That fruit is produced in the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. It is a natural process, natural to the spirit, not the flesh. The flesh cannot produce spiritual fruit, but like all things antichristian a false or fake fruit can be put forth as a substitute for the real thing.

“Fake it ‘til you make it!” That was the cry of the spiritual trainers of the 80’s. I was told that if I did the exercises, I would eventually feel the power of the Holy Spirit at work. It was a lie then and it is a lie now. The Holy Spirit is not at the beck and call of human effort. He is God and obeys the will of the Father only. He testifies only of Jesus Christ.

During this next series of devotionals I shall endeavor to identify the differences between the fruits of the spirit and the fake fruit. We will be looking specifically at those fruits as identified in Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.My last word of encouragement here is this word.

Use these instruction only in self-examination. Using them to be a fruit examiner in others is a form of judgment. Judge not lest you be judged.