Judy Mills

  • home
  • about
  • blog
  • Contact
  • The Bible Study
  • 52 Ways to Glorify God

June 20, 2015

Way #18 – Loving Like Jesus

Love Never Fails 800

Living a not about me life doesn’t come easily — at least not for me. I’m amazed at the self-focus that creeps in, the self-interest that rises up. When it does, I find it helpful to zoom out from the narrow perspective of my one life and think of the BIG world we live in. I visualize the billions of people that occupy this planet. I think of the many nations across it and the great diversity of the people within each one. From these thoughts, I’m reminded: As big as this world is, our GOD is so much bigger. He hovers above it. He created it all. He sustains it all.

Above all, He loves us all. The greatness of our world doesn’t compare to the massive and intense nature of God’s love. His love is extended to those who love Him, those who hate him, and even to those who don’t acknowledge He exists.

Scripture says, “For God SO loved the world…”(John 3:16). God’s love is so great that He gave His only Son for us. He did it so that the billions upon billions of us might know Him and spend both this life and eternity with Him. And in God’s glorious plan to make His love known, He’s largely chosen to do so through His followers.

Jesus gave an astounding command. Apart from Jesus, it’s a command that’s impossible to keep:

“As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”  John 13:34

How do we comprehend such a calling, much less live it out? God chose to make Himself known through His followers as they loved people as Jesus did:

“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35

We’ve been called to agape love. It’s the holy and extravagant love of God. It’s the love with which Jesus loves us. The extensive nature of agape love is seen in its Greek definition: to love, cherish, esteem, respect, honor, favor, prize, relish, be devoted to.

Agape love believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. It never fails (1 Corinthians 13:7).

Stop for a minute. Think of the intense beauty and power of this love. What if you’d always been loved by others with agape love? How would your life have been different? How would be you different?

What if you loved others with agape love?  Think of how their lives could be different, how you could make an incredible difference.

To give the love of God, we must receive the love of God. Recall Jesus’ words, “As I have loved you…”  You’ll receive God’s love as you seek and believe Him for it. When you do, your life will display the love of God that is the very essence of the glory of God! It’s Way #18 of 52 Ways to Glorify God:

Love others as Jesus has loved you.

I encourage you to ponder the words in the definition of agape love. Ask God to reveal the nature of His agape love for you. Then, ask Him to show you and enable you to love the people around you with His self-sacrificing agape love. In doing so, they’ll know you are His disciple. There’s no better way to lift the name of Jesus high!

Judy Mills

 

Filed Under: 52 Ways to Glorify God, the glory of God Tagged With: Glory of God, love, love one another

Older
Newer

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I accept the Privacy Policy

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Search the Blog:

Join the community & receive a printable list of 52 Ways to Glorify God!

The Ultimate Joy Study:

 

Find out more!

Recent Posts:

  • A Probing Question for This Time
  • A powerful new vision for the New Year
  • When the unthinkable, seemingly unbearable happens
  • God’s beautiful perspective of your life
  • What should be the most important thing in your life?
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 · Judy Mills · Tiemeyer Design

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT