How to Love Like Jesusნიმუში

Love is genuine

In yesterday’s discussion, we talked about how biblical love is a choice rather than an emotion. We can love our enemies, love people who don’t love us, and even love people when we don’t particularly like them, because the responsibility to love others lies solely with us. And the same is true with our love for God.

However, our heavenly Father knows that such love does not come naturally to us. Fortunately, he showed us how to love when he became one of us. And while words can never fully express the fullness of Christ’s love, certain aspects of how Jesus loved are directly applicable to how we should love God, love others, and receive that love in return.

We’re going to look at the first of those characteristics today.

One of the most foundational aspects of Christ’s love as revealed in Scripture is that his love for others was genuine. Those Jesus encountered were often drawn to him because there was not a hint of falsehood or deception in the way that he loved people.

Some did not recognize it initially, and many responded to that love by questioning it, as a way to avoid dealing with their own issues. Yet, those who were open to receiving it experienced a kind of care and affection that left them feeling truly valued.

Few things leave such a lasting an impression on people as feeling as though they are genuinely cared for. So how did Jesus exhibit such love and how can we learn to do the same?

He started with his time.

One of the earliest examples of Christ’s genuine love for others is found toward the end of Luke 4. Jesus had just come to Capernaum in Galilee after being chased out of his hometown of Nazareth for confronting the people with their unbelief. He then spent the morning of the Sabbath teaching in the synagogue and driving a demon out of a man who came to listen. Afterward, he and his disciples went back to Peter’s house in the city, where Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law (Luke 4:31–39).

As Luke describes, “Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them” (Luke 4:40 ESV).

It can be easy to allow Christ’s divinity to overshadow his humanity when we think about his time walking among us. After all, driving out demons and performing miracles is hardly something you see every day. However, it’s important to remember that while Jesus was also fully divine, the work he did of teaching, healing, and ministering to others still took its toll on him.

Understanding the price of Christ’s humanity is important because it sheds light on how much it truly cost him to love as he did. We’ll look at the sacrificial elements of that love in greater detail tomorrow, but for now, we can know that the love Jesus showed to people throughout his ministry was genuine because we know that it was not easy.

That’s not to say that love always has to be sacrificial to be real love, but there are few ways to more clearly show someone that you are prioritizing their well-being over your own than to make your life more difficult for their benefit.

At the same time, Jesus never seemed to love others out of a sense of obligation. Rather, his compulsion to care for those he met was an extension of his relationship with the Father. It was in his nature to love, and the more we grow in our love for him, the more it should become part of our nature as well (1 John 4:16).

This side of heaven, it’s unlikely that you and I will ever fully and consistently model the kind of genuine love we see in Christ. However, that is the standard to which we are called, and Jesus was clear that we sin when we stop trying just because we understand that we will fall short (Matthew 5:48).

So, as we finish for today, take some time to ask God to show you any relationships in your life where you are falling short of the genuine love we see in Jesus. Ask him to point out ways you can love others without thinking of how that love might benefit you.

Now ask those same questions about your love for him. In what ways is your love for God selfish rather than selfless? How can you show him the same kind of genuine love he has shown you?

When you’re done, turn those thoughts into a prayer, asking for God’s help in showing the kind of genuine love toward other people and toward him that we see modeled in the life of Christ.