Gò0dNews for Everyone
Loving Like Jesus
W
by Faith Miller
hat does real love look like? In 1 John
proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-
Chapter 4, it says that God Himself is
seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record
love. Therefore, if we want to know how
of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices
to be Christ-like, we can look at how Jesus loved
with the truth. It always protects, always trusts,
others when He was on Earth. He communed with tax
always hopes, always perseveres.”
collectors, prostitutes, and lepers. He dined with them
To truly love others, it takes more than being nice
and He did not show any reservation in treating them
to someone, although that is important. Genuine love
with pure kindness and love. How often are we guilty
challenges us to be humble, to lay our own lives to
of seeing a person less fortunate than us and moving on with our own lives, not thinking about what we can do for them? I know I have been guilty of this more times than I can count. Many times, we are not able to help others who are in need financially, but simply lending your time and listening to others, can mean more to people than you would ever know. One of my teachers once spoke on this very subject and told us about a time when he was at Walmart and a stranger started talking to him out of the blue. It was late at night and he was ready to go, but he heard the Holy Spirit tell him to just stay and listen to the man. This man talked for twenty minutes and suddenly
the side, and to care for others as Jesus did. Someone once told me, “Beauty is not here I am, but rather here
started opening up about how no one that he knows
you are.” It takes putting the focus on others, rather
ever really listens to him when he talks. He started to
than ourselves, to show someone that they are loved.
cry. His wife, kids, and friends would never show him
Jesus made others more important than Himself, even
love in this way. My teacher was able to tell the man
to the point of dying on the cross so we might have
about Jesus’s love for him, all because he took the time
life. I challenge you to look for opportunities to love
out of his own life to listen to this man, who he had no
people in a deeper way. Whether that means taking the
idea was going through this.
time to sit and listen to them talk or doing something
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 states, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not
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special for them. Find ways to let people know that they are loved and valued as Jesus does for us.
