Loving like Jesus

Love moves toward people. It does not leave people alone in their suffering or in their selfishness. (Paul E. Miller, Love Walked Among Us: Learning to Love Like Jesus)

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (Jesus to His disciples, in John 13:34-35) Could he have made it any more plain? Loving the way Jesus loves is what shows we belong to Him most clearly.

Love is such a broad term in our lexicon. It covers everything from erotic passion to the "tough love" desperate parents show rebellious teenagers. We use the same word to describe our preference for chocolate and our devotion to our children. Love feels a little hard to pin down.

But God pins it down for us in two very tangible ways: His Word and His Son. In His Word, God describes Himself to us, so that we have a full picture of His love. And Jesus, His Son, was love personified, living among men. Jesus literally fleshed out love for us.

A couple years ago, as I was studying John’s gospel, I noticed that Jesus’ love was so very appealing, yet so very different from mine. So I started asking God to help me love others the way Jesus loves. Well, you can imagine how He started answering: I began to see even more evidence of my Lilliputian-sized love, in contrast to Jesus’ limitless love. Then conflict started bubbling up in a couple of relationships, turning up the heat by making love even harder for me! That’s God’s way, isn’t it? Not to wave some divine wand and instantly give me a bigger dose of love to share, but to challenge and stretch my heart, revealing selfish motives in my relationships, offering His power and grace to me to truly love others as I trust Him. Oh, how I want to love His way: with more sincerity, less self-interest, more courage, less comfort-seeking.

Below is an entry from my journal last year, sort of a "Love is" meditation, as I pondered what Jesus’ love looks like in my life. (Of course, 1 Corinthians 13 is a far better meditation on the subject; this is that chapter personalized for me.)

Love is stubborn: it perseveres through rejection and conflict, refusing to let go.

Love believes that God redeems the impossible and transforms beyond anyone’s imagining.

Love hopes when it seems crazy to hope.

Love is willing to suffer long for the good of another.

Love is gentle, yet mightier than anything we possess.

Love sees the truth, no matter how hard it is, and refuses to look away.

Love takes risks without protecting itself.

Love doesn’t draw lines or back away when it hurts.

Love gives according to another’s need.

Love seeks to understand, not to be understood.

Love does not need anyone’s approval, because it already has God’s approval.

Love is not self-conscious; it is discerning yet not critical.

Love does not need to know all the answers.

Love carries the burdens of others that cannot be carried alone.

Love listens to and feels another’s pain.

Love speaks with honesty, without manipulation or hidden agendas.

Love is blind to status and reputation.

Love sees the image of God in each and every person.

Love never fears the worst but always hopes and trusts for the best,
because love trusts Jesus.