The conclusion of our discipleship miniseries focuses on Jesus’ command to Love like Jesus.
In the post, What is Love, I listed 5 verses where Jesus is very clear what it looks like to follow Him. To love like Jesus is the fifth and final teaching I highlighted.
This is My command, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
John 15:12 NASB2020
This verse begs the question, how has Jesus loved us?
13Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends. 14You are My friends if you do what I command you.
John 15:13-14 NASB2020
12Then, when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? 13You call Me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord’; and you are correct, for so I am. 14So if I, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
John 13:12-14 NASB2020
This is what It looks like to love like Jesus; serve.
I’ve mentioned previously that love in Jesus’ Kingdom is not just a feeling but action. The main action that shows Jesus’ love is to serve one another. As Jesus also says in the gospels, that He came not to be served but to sacrifice His life. His life was all in service to God’s will for salvation.
Jesus, and the Bible at large, consistently speaks of humility and not thinking too highly of yourself. I believe one reason for that is you can’t love like Jesus, aka serve, if you are prideful. If the only perfect person to ever live did not use his station to Lord it over us but served and sacrificed for us, there is NO EXCUSE for us to be prideful of ourselves.
For me the biggest place to try to live this out, and struggle to live this is out is with my family. I as the head am called to love Chantal like Christ does the church, and sacrifice myself for her. That is not how I went into marriage. Shoot, that’s now how I acted for at least the first third to half of our marraige. However, once the Lord showed me my heart and broke my pride, I began to learn how I should love like Him, starting with Chantal.
As I’ve mentioned before I can be very comfortable by myself and can be very jealous of my own time. God has consistently reminded me that to love like Him I have to put her first, put my kids first. I am FAR from perfect, or even consistent in this, but He is making me a little better day by day. Just like so many other good habits start at home, loving like Jesus starts with those closest to us.
This is our call, no, His command… to love one another like Him. To love one another like Jesus is to serve one another like Jesus.
In Jesus Kingdom, Love + Others = Serve
Love like Jesus
Thank you for taking this mini-journey into what discipleship to Jesus looks like. These are not all of Jesus’ teachings. I encourage you again to read all of the gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I read the Gospels and Acts only, over and over, for 6 months. When I finished that 6 months, I felt like I knew Jesus like I’d never before. Don’t take my word for these things, ALWAYS check the source for yourself.
Love you all, God bless, and Lord willing, I’ll see y’all tomorrow.
Thank you for encouraging me to read the same books for an extended period of time.