How can we love others like Jesus?

Did you love others today as Jesus would have loved them? If we asked ourselves that question at the end of each day, how would our answer change things tomorrow?

Maybe we would:

Choose to spend more time with someone and less time with another.

Notice someone we might otherwise have walked past.

See a moment as an opportunity instead of an interruption.

Have the chance to share our faith instead of our opinion or advice.

If we loved people instead of just appreciating them, how deeply would we care about their needs?

If we sacrificed for someone instead of giving what we determined was enough, how would our gift change their situation, now and eternally?

Jesus modeled the love of God everywhere he walked. He helped so many people, although he never helped them all. He gave his time, his attention, and his wisdom to all who would listen, but not everyone did. Jesus angered some people and saddened others, like the rich young ruler. Jesus healed many people, but not everyone. Jesus called everyone to be his disciples and then dedicated much of his time and attention to only a few. The few who followed his example changed the world.

How can we love others as Jesus does? By loving others as Christ loved us. We can give ourselves in service to others as Jesus gave himself up for us. We can enter a room as an offering to God if we simply enter the room with the goal of leaving his love behind instead of keeping it to ourselves. We won’t be able to help everyone either, but we will help some. We might even help many.

Jesus is the model for our own faith and the pathway for our eternal relationship with God. The only way to model the love of Christ is to allow his love to flood our lives and then overflow to others through the sacrifice and offering of our lives to his higher purpose.

If we commit to “walk in love as Christ loved us,” we will change the way we live tomorrow.