"Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did." (I John 2:6)
So the question comes, "How did Jesus walk?" Again we are not talking about a particular gait, or hitch Jesus had in his "get along". Rather this question challenges us to live as Jesus lived, so how did Jesus live? More importantly, how did Jesus treat people?
In I John, John is addressing the situation of people who consider themselves "spiritually elite" looking down on other brothers and sisters and pushing them aside. Their "enlightenment" was about what they thought they knew (special knowledge). However, John says light is seen not in what we say we know, but rather in what we do and in particular how we love.
Love is the way Jesus walked; it's how he lived. So what about us? Are we walking as Jesus did?
Yesterday in our sermon study group we came up with a list of ideas of what it looks like to love well.
We can help others, we can pray for others, we can forgive others who have wronged us, we can serve others, we can show others respect, and we can offer acts of kindness. All of these things are ways we can show Jesus' love to others.
So what about you? How will you show Jesus' love to people this week? Is there someone you can help, pray for, forgive, serve, show respect, and/or offer kindness? Make a plan, and then pray about it asking God to help you do it!
1 Corinthians 13
ReplyDeleteReally famous verses for a couple but what iv found is this is the kind of love we are supposed to show everyone. I have found a different take on this. Jesus loved the father so much he was totally submitted to Gods will for his life... even to a horrible death. Jesus loved the father so much he did everything for us, and the father loved us so much he sent the son. Jesus put so much trust in the father that he was reckless, just like paul was reckless. I am too often convicted by the fact that I don't love like Jesus because I constantly see with my own eyes and think I cant give this or do that because I need to take care of my bills or my obligations, or my plans for my future. Just had this discussion the other day. "Carpe diem" sieze the moment or the day. Rejoice in this day and love in this moment. I have to often missed chances to help and love because I was either looking to my own future or regretting the past mistakes made. When the truth is yesterday is gone and tomorrow is Gods, we cant boast about tomorrow we can only say if God wills it. So rejoice in this day. I always wondered about purpose and I think so many people do. Whats my purpose in life. Well our purpose is to glorify God, to depend on him and give him all the glory. Easier said than done but when we look to him for his will in our life maybe our purpose is to live like we really believe Chirst is all he says he is. Maybe our purpose is nothing more than to have a smile on our face no matter what happens. Maybe all our purpose is ever going to be is to quote a bible verse to someone or even to simply tell a stranger that Jesus loves them.
Ask myself this all the time now "Do you feel most loved by God because he makes much of you, or because he frees you to make much of him, forever?" (john piper) but its true we cant walk like Jesus does until we are free from our own will for our life. What piper is getting at is this life is not about myself. so if im famous or rich or "made much of" doesn't matter, what matters is if we make much of God. We gotta lose our life in order to find it in Jesus. So all that stuff is good to forgive to serve to show respect and kindness, but like paul says we can do all those things but if we don't do it for the right reasons, LOVE, we gain nothing. We gain the joy of Christ. The joy Jesus was seeking when he endured the suffering of the cross. Infinite joy. To me its all about attitude and perspective, which really comes from scripture and prayer. or communicating with God everyday all day. Then to forgive someone or serve someone, show respect or kindness will just be who we are. Then it wont be for our own glory ,but simply for the glory of God.
my two cents, from my own life full of mistakes and failures. and constantly falling short of what I just said.
Thanks Autokamper! Agreed our love is nothing if it is not first motivated by and founded upon God's love for us in Jesus. So what will you do this week to show that kind of love? Is there someone specifically God is asking you to serve, respect, show kindness, pray for, or forgive?
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