September 29, 2026

Love is not a Cliché, it’s a Command

Galatians 5:16-26, Colossians 3:1-17, Matthew 22:34-40

We all have a certain animosity toward clichés. We resist the idea that universal truths could define our individual thoughts, ideas, and actions. As a new parent, people told me over and over, “Your kids will grow up so fast.” I hated hearing it. Yet it proved painfully true. One day my baby was crawling; then walking, running, talking, arguing, and then heading out the door to school. The older I get, the more I realize that many clichés carry truth. The things we hear again and again often point us toward wisdom that we are ignoring. The repeated truths can either be bitterly filed away as clichés, or embraced as wisdom and allowed to shape our lives. This is the choice we face with scripture’s command to love.

We have heard a million times that we are called to love God and love others (Matthew 22:34-40). It sounds good and feels right, but after hearing it so often, we can become deaf and indifferent to its message; the truth is that love is the central fruit of the Spirit to which all others cling. Love is the first of the fruit of the Spirit that Paul highlights in Galatians 5. Why? Because love is not a cliché but the defining mark of a life transformed by the Spirit. Love is essential to flourishing in the Holy Spirit-filled life. It tops the list because it shapes how every other expression of the Spirit’s fruit is lived out.

David Guzik, in his biblical commentary on Galatians 5 points out, “It is fitting that love be the first (fruit of the Spirit) mentioned, because it encompasses all of the following. It may even be said that the following eight terms are just describing what love in action looks like.” Martin Luther originally stated it this way, “It would have been enough to mention only the single fruit of love, for love embraces all the fruits of the Spirit.” (Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians). Love matters. For the Christian, love of God and His people matters more than anything else. Love is the vehicle that allows the other fruit of the Spirit to take place and thrive in our lives. Until we are open to love, we will never be open to the other works that the Spirit is offering to perform in our lives.

Reflection

This week, resist the temptation to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the truth you have been taught, and perhaps already know deep down: love is the action of a holy life. To love God and His people is to live in the Spirit.

Where love feels like a cliché is probably indicative of where love is not being actively practiced in your life; take time to ask the Lord to fill you with His Spirit this week as you study love. Ask Him to show you what true love looks like and, more importantly, to help you actively live it in the places where it may feel cliché or where you’ve struggled to show it.