This post and the photos within it contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking an affiliate link, my ministry gets a small commission, with no extra cost to you. See my full disclosures HERE.
For me, this is a hard topic to write about. What do I know about love?
I fail quite miserably when it comes to loving others, so it’s always something I feel the need to improve on (really, I’ll be working on it the rest of my life!)
And yet, what does anybody know about love? We’re all learning as we go, and none of us has it all “figured out”.
Good thing Jesus does!
His life on Earth as told in the four Gospels, is full of examples and instructions on how we are to love God and other people.
Which is great for folks like me, who need to be reminded to humble ourselves, and love the people around us.
Jesus is LOVE
Let us count just a few of the ways Jesus exemplified love… And, how we should emulate Him!
- He loved His Father in Heaven. As evidenced by the way Jesus lived his life, by regularly taking time to pray, being intimately connected to God at all times, and being obedient to His Faither’s will even all the way to the cross. We too should aim to stay connected to God through Bible reading, prayer, and service.
- He showed mercy and compassion for ALL sinners. Not just the tax collectors, but the adulteress, and the prostitute as well! Jesus forgave them, but He also did something else: He told them to go and sin no more! For us, this means giving ample grace to each other in our sins. And then, encouraging each other to remove those sins from our lives.
- He never gave up on people! Not on Peter, who denied Him three times. Nor on his disciples, when they frustrated him with their lack of faith. And He doesn’t give up on you and me either! So let’s not give up on the people in our lives who may seem “hopeless” in some way or another. Remember Matthew 19:26 (NIV): “Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
- He focused on serving others. This was powerfully illustrated in His washing of the disciples’ feet at the Last Supper (John 13:1-17). Jesus, who was hours away from being betrayed, beaten, and crucified, was only focused on serving! Surely we too can stop and serve our neighbor in need, even when we’re “busy”, or “lacking” in funds or other resources.
Jesus calls us to love!
Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:37-39 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”
You may recall what 1 Corinthians 13 says about love: that it’s patient, kind, keeps no record of wrongs, and so forth. Sounds a lot like God’s grace, right?
I feel that it’s important to note, that none of us can be perfect, only Jesus. The fact that His blood covers all our sins, should move us to do the very best we can to follow His example. As He said in Matthew 11:29 (AMP): “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me [following Me as My disciple], for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest (renewal, blessed quiet) for your souls.”. This means we are to follow His lead, but yet He is forgiving when we fail. The important thing is that we devote our hearts to Him, and try our best to follow.
Stay tuned next week for some practical ways we can put these principles into action!
Hi! Thank you so much for visiting Divine Creative Love. I’m a Jesus-lovin’ girl, lettering artist, designer, and general creative-at-heart. And, I have narcolepsy. I blog about faith in God, overcoming challenges, and creative topics such as Bible journaling. If you’re new here, be sure and subscribe to my list so you won’t miss anything!