Letting Jesus Show Me How to Love Like He Does

If I am going to love like Jesus, I need to do everything I can to be like Jesus. Of course, I will never come anywhere close to being like Him. I am a sinner by nature and am prone to sin. I often relate to Paul in Romans 7:19, where he repeatedly uses the word “do.” It is through my actions—most significantly, how I treat others—that I can strive to love like Jesus.

How do I learn to “do” as Jesus did? By studying Scripture. Over and over throughout the Gospels, Jesus treated others as I aspire to.

The first Bible story that comes to mind when I think about how Jesus loved people is the woman caught in adultery. To me, it beautifully illustrates the call in Ephesians 4:15 to “speak the truth in love.” Jesus tells her, “Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:11). He forgives her while lovingly calling her to become the woman God created her to be. I cherish His loving discipline because doing His will rather than my own is making me a better person.

Jesus gives this woman a second chance, and He does the same with Peter. After Peter denies Him three times, Jesus restores him by entrusting him with the care of His followers. Our Savior doesn’t hold grudges or cling to resentment. I don’t want to either.

Another way Jesus turns love into action is the way he treats those rejected by society. He invites Matthew to join his inner circle. He eats with tax collectors and sinners. He welcomes a “sinful woman” to anoint His feet with perfume and wipe them with her hair. He touches lepers and heals them. He cures a woman’s bleeding. The Lord says, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.”(Luke 6:32). Jesus calls us to love the unlovable and to treat them well.

Finally, Jesus humbles Himself when giving His love. I cannot love out of self-centered desire or arrogance and love like Jesus. This is perhaps best illustrated for me in the chronicle of the Last Supper when Jesus insists on washing His disciples’ feet – the lowliest of all tasks. When Simon Peter tries to dissuade Him, the Lord says, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me” (John 13:8). He shows the disciples how He loves them, and guides them to love one another the same way.

I can study the Bible and understand what it means to Love Like Jesus… but what He really wants from me is to put His lessons into practice. I can roll my window down, make eye contact, and talk to a panhandler the way Peter and John looked at the lame man outside the gate called Beautiful. I can “speak the truth in love” to my daughter, not judging her but at the same time guiding her to do what is right in God’s eyes. I can serve the marginalized by waiting on people at the church food pantry. And I can forgive.

Lord, help me be a humble doer of your Word. Amen.

Nancy Keswani
Team South Sudan/ PEER Teens
USA