Okay, that was fun. Fun, but depressingly fictional. Why? Because when Paul listed "love" among the fruits of the Spirit, he did not mean: only love those who love you. In fact, his definition was actually the opposite. When he told us to love people, he was talking about the same people that Jesus talked about.
So whom did Jesus say to love? In a nutshell - everybody! But to narrow it down a bit: "But I [Jesus] say to you, 'Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.'" Matthew 5:44
Ouch. Yes, that's my first reaction after reading that verse. When we hear the word "love," how often do we think, "Oh yeah, love, no problem! I'm a very loving person! I love my parents, my kids and/or siblings, my friends, most of my co-workers. I love everybody ... mostly! And that's enough for me!" But Jesus said that a truly loving person loves everybody,
Okay, so it's all very well and good to say that we're supposed to love our enemies, but practically, what does that mean? First thing first is that we have to define this radical love to know how to love our enemies. This love is not a feeling, an emotion that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, as society seems to think. It's an action. This is not just a, "Oh yeah, I'll say that I love my enemies, but that's it," kind of love. For example, if my mom said that she loved me but never took the time to speak to me, to do things for me, to even give me a hug, it'd be starkly obvious that she didn't love me. Likewise, loving our enemies means that we first show that love in actions, whether it's speaking a kind word to them or making them a "get well" card or even sitting down and talking to them. We find out the second thing love means by looking at what it's linked to in Matthew 5:44. Jesus said, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Love ... and pray. So loving our enemies and praying for them go hand in hand. We love them by praying for them (for their heart, for their lives, for the Lord to bring them closer to Himself). Loving our enemies all comes down to acting out our love and praying for our enemies in love.
Lastly, why do we love our enemies? It's simple: "We love because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19) Who's that "He"? God. We love because "...God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) We love because we follow the example of True Love, the Ultimate Sacrifice, Jesus Christ' death for us. And that's why we not only love, but why we seek to bear all of the fruits of the Spirit. It's all because of Jesus Christ that we can have life in the Spirit and seek to bear His fruit.