Love others as Jesus loved you!
Today’s devotion is based on the Message: Love Revealed (Watch Here)
Love one another AS you have been loved.
As the Apostle John said, (1 John 4:11) Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” Love for others ONLY comes as a response to and result of God’s love for us. If we take the words, “We are to love everyone” without the definition and example of God’s love for us in Christ, we will fail to love as Jesus directs us to.
So what might that love look like as we love others?
First, let’s define love based on the last days of looking at God’s love for us.
Love is a choice to act on behalf of and seek the good of others, even at personal cost, regardless of their response or worthiness.
So what does agape love look in our relationships with others?
We are willing to put others first.
This direction doesn’t mean a person has no self-care or take time for themselves, but is willing to put the needs of others first rather live life with a focus on self and taking advantage of people for one’s own self interest. The Apostle Paul put it this way: Galatians 5:13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
Ground your love for others in truth.
Remember that part of loving is warning a person of the spiritual dangers of their behavior. Love is redirecting a person from the lies of Satan to the truth of God’s Word. Love is not based on your opinion but really helping someone understand and walk in the ways of the Lord. Just as we would want someone to love us enough to tell us the truth. Here’s some guidance from the Apostle Paul: 1 Corinthians 13:6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Ephesians 4:14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
Do not expect a return.
Love does not come with strings attached. When you show up for work and get paid, that is not love, that is a job. Love acts without expectation of repayment. Sure someone may respond with a gesture of thanks, but that’s not the motivation to act in love. Love acts without expecting a return. Again Paul writes, Philippians 2:3-4 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you
should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of
others.
Finally, love when it’s tough.
Sometimes people are an “extra love opportunity.” People you struggle to get along with or people who are outright mean to you are hard to love. Even in situations where you are with your spouse or best friend, they push your buttons and you feel like lashing out…it’s tough to love. Love calls us to love even when it is tough. Jesus said in Luke 6:32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.
To say, “Love one another,” is easy. To do it is hard. But remember, the power and direction for loving others is AS Jesus has loved you. Let his love fill you so that you can fill others’ lives with his love. The result?
John 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Apply: What aspect of loving others is most challenging to you? Can you think of an example of how Jesus loved in that situation? How can it help you to love?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for loving us so genuinely and deeply. I ask that your love would every day become more real for me so that I might love others just as you have loved me. AMEN.
How Jesus has loved us!
Today’s devotion is based on the Message: Love Revealed (Watch Here)
“As I have loved you.”
The standard for love of others is Jesus’ love for us.
To be better at loving others, we must grow deeper in how Jesus has loved us. The world around us can define and exhibit “love” however it chooses, but if we want to be known as disciples of Jesus, we must understand and model the love of Jesus.
So what does that look like?
First Jesus CHOSE to love.
To love as Jesus has loved us is to choose to love. The love that Jesus showed was not earned or deserved by the recipients (actually just the opposite). He desired the blessing of others and so he chose to act on their behalf. John 13:1 states, “It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.”
Jesus didn’t ask the disciples if they wanted their feet washed, he chose to wash their feet. Jesus didn’t ask for prayer requests from his disciples, he prayed for them. Jesus didn’t ask his disciples to defend him against arrest, he chose to be arrested. Jesus didn’t ask his disciples if he should die for them even though they deserted him, he chose to die for them.
The whole of Jesus’ mission was the plan of his Father which Jesus intentionally undertook for the salvation of all mankind. He was not coerced, bought off, or manipulated. He chose to love us.
He loved UNCONDITIONALLY.
The world’s love is often connected to the performance of the recipient. If they don’t love back, I stop loving them. If they wrong me, jilt me, or turn on me, I feel justified to stop loving someone (and maybe worse.) However, look at the Apostle Paul’s inspired reflection in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” While we were still sinners, Jesus acted in love on our behalf!
He loved SACRIFICIALLY.
Jesus’ love for us always was an imposition on his time, character, activities. He was willing to give himself up for us so that we might be presented as perfect, holy and blameless before God (even though we could achieve none of this on our own!). As an example for husbands, the Apostle Paul uses the sacrificial love of Jesus as our example as husbands to love their wives. Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
These three perhaps the world understands a bit, but not fully. The last one is one is a key to loving as Jesus did.
Jesus loved us HONESTLY.
Jesus loves us enough to not allow us to live in the lies of Satan. He loves us enough to point out when our hearts are loving someone or something else more than the Lord, because he wants us to end up in heaven. He is willing to warn us of sin in our hearts, such as pride, selfishness, deviance from God’s law and much more because he knows these are the fruit of Satan, not the Spirit. Jesus loves us enough to guide us in a way that reflects him, not our sinful passions and desires. To love us, Jesus warns us, points out sin, and calls us to repentance. In no way does Jesus love by overlooking sin, not addressing it or worst of all condoning it because he doesn’t want to confront it.
Is confrontation of our sin is simply because he loves us enough to continue in it. He is more than willing to forgive one who repents of their sin and is more than happy to give his Spirit to help us overcome that sin. It would be dishonest and unloving for him to even hint that sinful behavior was justified or ok.
One of many examples is in John 8. Jesus confronts the pride of the Pharisees ready to stone a woman caught in adultery. Jesus forgives the woman and directs her away from her sin. All done in love because he wants none of them to be separated from God forever because of sin that is left unaddressed.
John 8:10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
As I have loved you…Jesus says…love one another.
Apply: Which aspect of Jesus’ love for you is most challenging as you think about loving others?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me intentionally, unconditionally, sacrificially, and honestly. We pray that in all our love for others, we would love as you have loved us. AMEN.
Love as…
Today’s devotion is based on the Message: Love Revealed (Watch Here)
A little word makes a big difference.
“Jesus wants us to love everyone.”
Sounds good doesn’t it?
I would have to agree.
However the context of this statement has to be carefully considered. In recent years, I have heard this phrase used often in a conversation where there is a discussion of a behavior that while it might be accepted and maybe even legal, it butts up against God’s moral law. The phrase is thrown out, “Jesus wants us to love everyone, doesn’t he?” and it seems like the “moral ace card” has been played and the one opposing the behavior has to fall silent because who could disagree with the statement, “Jesus wants us to love everyone”?
The sentence sounds good.
Jesus in John 13:34 said, “A new command I give you: Love one another.”
All too often Scripture is used as a convenient cover for tough and challenging conversations or even revelations that counter the culture or the accepted norm.
To be sure, Jesus wants us to love everyone.
To be sure, we cannot disagree with Jesus’ command to love one another.
However, where we must pause is the very next word: “As…”
John 13:34 continues, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
Sometimes the smallest words make the biggest difference.
With this word, Jesus qualifies what our love of others is to look like. It is to look the same way he has loved us.
With this word, Jesus challenges us to understand how he has loved us.
With this word, Jesus turns us away from the world’s definition of love, how I think love should be practiced, or how the people around me wish love would be defined.
One cannot ignore the point Jesus is making. In the same way Jesus has loved us, so we are to love others.
So, that takes work. But it is work that is worth undertaking.
Before we get into a discussion about “loving everyone” or before we start making up our own definition or determination of what Jesus meant when he wants us to love one another, we must turn to Jesus to see how he actually did love us. What happens in our search is to realize that every teaching, every interaction, every action which is recorded about Jesus is an opportunity to ask, “How did he love me in this situation?”
Consider a somewhat random passage from Matthew 5:1-2. With these words, Matthew introduces the next three chapters.
5 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them.
Jesus loved these people enough to teach them about life in the kingdom of God, where blessing was to be found, what the law of God said, nuances of sin they may not have thought about, relationship issues, heart issues, and much more.
Why? Because just as a parent takes time to teach their child about life, relationships, faith and more because they love them, so Jesus did as well.
There is much more that we will delve into the next couple of days to better understand how Jesus loved us. And the great thing is, Jesus taught and modeled love throughout his ministry so that we would know not just a general idea, but very specifically what love is to look like when we love one another…and for that matter, love everyone.
Because one little word makes a big difference!
Apply: Read through Matthew 5-7. Make a list of all the ways that Jesus loved us in the various teachings he gives in his Sermon on the Mount…you may need a couple of pages!
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for loving everyone with a perfect love. Help me grow in all the ways you have loved me so that I might truly love all around me JUST AS you have loved me. AMEN!
Love failed.
Today’s devotion is based on the Message: Love Revealed (Watch Here)
Failure.
Do you have the fear of failure?
Most people have a natural adversity to failing. We usually don’t start something that we know we are going to fail at, at least not very often. When we do fail, it can be crushing. We may feel so defeated that we never try again.
On the other hand failure, when evaluated and learned from can move us forward in life. If you quit playing little league baseball after missing your first pitch, you would have quit too soon. If you would have dropped out of school after getting your first F on an assignment, you would have missed out on your education.
Failure happens because we are not perfect people. Failure isn’t necessarily wrong, in fact, when failure causes us to evaluate and adjust and learn to do something a different way, it might be the best thing for us!
Have you ever failed at love? Or has love ever failed you?
I would guess all of us would say, “yes” to this.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:8, “Love never fails.”
Has this been your experience?
Love NEVER fails?
How do we reconcile this passage with our experience?
To get to understand love that never fails, maybe we first evaluate what causes love to fail?
When we look at love from the world’s standpoint, we can begin to see where love breaks down. Here’s a few reasons why love fails:
- Love is often based on feelings—such as attraction, chemistry, or happiness.
- Love tends to be conditional, based on the other person’s behavior, compatibility, or benefit to the individual.
- Often focused on what one receives—security, pleasure, validation, or fulfillment.
- Love can fade or shift based on circumstances, feelings, or unmet expectations.
- Idealized in media as a fairy tale or emotionally overwhelming experience.
- Definitions of love shift based on cultural trends, societal values, and personal preferences.
In all of these, love becomes subjective and has little substance upon which it stands. You can probably connect with one or two of these as you evaluate past experiences.
So, the benefit of failure is it leads us to ask, “What will keep me from failing in the future?”
The love that never fails is a love that is rooted in God’s love for us. If we want to love to never fail, it must be rooted in the never failing love God has for us. The Apostle John writes,
1 John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
It’s this love we want to discover so that God’s never-failing love takes deep root in us!
Apply: When has love failed you? Or seemed like it failed? Which of the evaluations might have happened in that circumstance?
Prayer: Lord, forgive us for times we try to define and practice love based on the ways of the world. Give me a humbleness of heart to learn from my failures and learn more of your never-failing love! AMEN
Love revealed…through our moms!
Today’s devotion is based on the Message: Love Revealed (Watch Here)
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud… It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
—1 Corinthians 13:4–8 (NIV)
There is no question that when one looks for examples of Christ-like love, we look to our mothers. For sure, not every person has the blessing of a loving mother, but motherhood is still lifted up as a primary example of what love is. Yesterday, on Mother’s Day, we paused to celebrate the women who have nurtured, guided, and loved us—mothers, grandmothers, stepmothers, adoptive mothers, and spiritual mothers.
Often the world defines motherhood by activity—diapers changed, meals cooked, soccer practices attended—Scripture points us to something deeper: the heart behind those actions. In 1 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul describes the kind of love that mirrors the character of Christ. It’s no coincidence that this same kind of love often shows up in the life of a faithful mother.
“Love is patient, love is kind.” How many times has a mother waited with patient endurance through tantrums, teenage attitudes, or times of uncertainty? How many acts of unnoticed kindness—packing lunches, offering hugs, praying late at night—have flowed from a mother’s heart?
“It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” A godly mother rejoices in her children’s growth and victories, not her own recognition. Even in a world that often overlooks her quiet labor, she finds joy in others’ flourishing.
“It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” This kind of love chooses forgiveness over resentment, gentleness over harshness, humility over pride. Mothers who love this way reflect Christ—especially when no one else sees. How many times does mom forgive!
“Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” This is the kind of fierce, enduring love that continues to believe in a child who has lost their way, hopes in hard seasons, and stays steadfast when life is overwhelming. This is agape love—selfless, sacrificial, and unconditional.
As great as our moms are, even the most devoted mother falls short. No human love is perfect. But that’s why we look to God’s love, the source of all true love. The love described in 1 Corinthians 13 is ultimately the love of Christ, poured into our hearts by His Spirit (Romans 5:5). We thank God for moms who lean on Jesus, who seek to be filled with his love, His strength, His grace, and His example so they might love well.
Thank you Lord for all our moms who live out this kind of love—not just through what they do, but through who they are. Strengthen them each day to love as you have loved them.
Apply: If you haven’t, take time today to give thanks to God for your mom…let her know too!
Prayer: Lord thank you for moms who seek to reflect your heart of love. Refresh and strengthen them as they continue to pour out their love to their children. Encourage those that are struggling. Give hope to moms experiencing loss and in all things fill the hearts of all with your unchanging and enduring love. AMEN.