Be Still: 30 Devotions for the Hopeful HeartExemplo

Loving Like Jesus Does

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. JOHN 15:12–14 ESV

How often do we find ourselves switching from loving to bothered/frustrated/bitter/angry because we feel the need to reciprocate? We hear about loving unconditionally, but our human heart is so used to loving based on emotion and changing circumstances that it is hard to fathom a love unwavering.

But what if we made it our mission? Instead of getting even, we could commit our hearts to forgiveness and offering a true clean slate to another? What if, when we feel slighted or excluded from a situation, we do not hold tight to bitterness or fear and still offer our love freely?

What if it stopped being about everything we receive and became about what we can give—regardless of the response, the rejection, the lack of reciprocation, or reassurance? It would confuse others and lead them right to this thought: “Why do they give love that I have not deserved?” Herein lies the perfect opportunity for our hearts to exclaim, “Jesus!” His eternal hope is the reason we can love so freely in return, knowing that He will work as He sees fit.

Wouldn’t that be incredible? To not be scared to be the people who love more, forgive freely, give grace abundantly, and walk in a confidence that stems from the ever-flowing love of Jesus? That would be the gospel.

Our heart is fragile. We take things personally. We are scared to let in others once we’ve been wronged. We have been taught by the world to only give what we receive—they must be worthy.

But Jesus calls us to love others out of a heart that is fully and recklessly loved by Him. This does not mean our emotions become absent and our pain won’t be felt; it just means that when those things do happen, we can remind ourselves we’re already accepted and abundantly loved by our Creator. It is in this truth that we no longer crave and depend on the reassurance of this world, and we begin to look like people of hope.

Dear Jesus, thank You for loving us beyond what we can ever fathom or deserve. You are so gracious to us. Remind our hearts to not take things personally and to love others the way You love us. In Jesus’s name, amen.