Find Hope in God's Unfailing LoveNäide

Five Steps To Building a Life of Love

“Keep company with [God] and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. . . . He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.” Ephesians 5:2 (MSG)

Here are five steps to building a life of love:

1. Learn how mature love acts and responds.

Personal change always begins with a change in perspective. You need to get God’s perspective on what mature love is really like, because the world knows nothing about deep, genuine, unselfish love. You gain God’s perspective on mature love by getting into God’s Word.

2. Start your day with a daily reminder to love.

Get up in the morning and say, “God, help me to remember that the most important thing is loving you and loving other people. If I don’t get anything else done today besides that, then this has not been a wasted day.”

3. Memorize what God says about love.

God’s Word is filled with truths and principles on how to become a loving person. The problem is, when you’re in a situation where you’re tempted to be unloving, your Bible is usually at home on a shelf. That’s why you need to memorize Scripture—so that God can bring verses to mind when you need them the most.

4. Practice acting in unselfish, loving ways.

Love is like a muscle. If you want to become a truly loving person, then you may have to intentionally do things that seem awkward at first. But, the more you practice, the more it will become second nature, and the more you will become a genuinely loving person.

5. Get support from other loving people.

You’ll never learn to love unless you intentionally spend time around other people. You’ll only learn to love in connection to others, in the context of community. There you can grow as you see godly love modeled for you and as you practice serving others in unselfish, loving ways. You’ll never learn to love by just sitting in solitude. You learn to love in relationship with God and with other people.