Love
Like Him

"We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters."

Real love is selfless. It does not consider self first but others. As followers of Christ, we should always be ready to lay our lives down for those we call brother and sister, as well as those we don't even know or aren't saved, because Jesus has exemplified that for us. He died for people who will probably never even say His name. So where's our excuse? We have more than we should: hurt feelings, grudges, and hate.

Sacrifice to us today means setting our phone down for an hour, picking up our Bible for 15 minutes, or simply going out of our way to talk to somebody who makes us a little uncomfortable or that we don't particularly like. The nature of Christ and the love He put into action is such a wild reality that we all must step into. The nature of Christ is selflessness itself. Go the extra mile for Jesus, let go of that grudge, talk to that person you don't like, and stop giving birth to hate. This is what He is urging you to do. Live out this love and believe it is true, because He lives in you. And don't believe for a second that you aren't capable, because He is right there giving you every opportunity to live it out.

REFLECT: Who in your life are you finding it hardest to lay your life down for, and what's one small sacrifice you can make for them today?

"Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment, to love one another, is the same message you heard before. Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining."

This old commandment is made new because no one could truly live it out in the flesh until it was put into flesh through Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He came in the likeness of our flesh, stripped Himself of His own power, and became the perfect human, fully surrendered. Stripped of divine might, yet perfect in every way as a man and still fully God. And all of this was a choice made out of love, not obligation. Amazing. This passage reveals where Christ's heart was when He came to dwell among us:

"Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:6-11)

Out of unconditional love, He surrendered His divine power and clothed Himself in flesh, making love visible. And because of this act of love, the commandment to love became new through Him who gave His life. He is our perfect model because of what He did and everything He does in our life. And because He now lives within us, we have been given everything we need to walk just as He walked.

REFLECT: In what area of your life are you still clinging to your own way instead of surrendering it to Christ like He surrendered for you?

"Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome."

The reason His commandments are not burdensome is because they flow from a place of love, and when you truly love Him, obedience doesn't feel like obligation. At the same time this verse can be a little confusing, because obeying God means you die to yourself, which is never an easy thing to do. Temptation is burdensome, but obedience is not.

Getting to the finish line of obedience means you have overcome temptation. The deep love you have for Christ, drawn out by His compelling nature, is what carries you there by His grace. And the only reason you desire to love Him in the first place is because He first loved you. He wants to restore you to a former glory, the way it was before the fall of Adam and Eve. Honor Him with your body, mind, and soul, because your soul is the thing at stake, and that means death and separation for all eternity.

REFLECT: Where in your walk with God does obedience feel like a burden, and what does that reveal about where your heart is?

"All wicked actions are sin, but not every sin leads to death. We know that God's children do not make a practice of sinning, for God's Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them."

In Scripture, wickedness is often displayed as predetermined actions that go against the will of God, refusing to submit to His authority, or rejection of God. This is not what the life of a believer looks like. A believer does not go out of their way to sin, hurt others, or go against God's will, and a believer is also one who walks submitted. When you are a believer living under His sonship, sin is no longer something that imprisons you. Rather, you are held securely by Jesus, the One who made it possible for you to walk in freedom from sin and death.

But if you do slip up, because your heart already belongs to Him, the sensitivity of the Holy Spirit will rise up within you and you will find yourself becoming increasingly aware of sin. And guess what? You don't just mindlessly sin anymore. He has cleansed you! That is what the finished work of the cross does for those who choose Him, desire Him, and accept the reality of His sacrifice. This way you can really live a holy and righteous life. But you must remember that this comes with a cost. You must die every single day. Be dead to yourself and alive in Christ. Believe in His cleansing power every single day, desire His will, and love Him with all your heart.

REFLECT: Are you living like someone who is truly held and free, or are you still acting like sin has power over you?

"And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life."

The reason we are able to have understanding of this new nature is because Jesus came to die a death that nobody else was capable of dying, and through that action He showed a love so profound and everlasting, making it the standard that everyone is to live by if they want eternal life.

When Christ accomplished this, it opened up the heavens so the Father could see Christ in you. Now we had Someone worthy to plead our case of sin to the Father, and after forgiveness and reconciliation, we can have true fellowship with Jesus Christ our Lord. And we also know that fellowship with Christ means freedom from sin. Let us be grateful that Christ is our Lord.

REFLECT: What does your daily life actually reveal about the depth of your fellowship with Christ?

"Anyone who loves a fellow believer is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble."

Love is always the evidence that the light of God is within a believer, especially when that love is in action. Whether it's serving others, being self-sacrificing with your time, money, or possessions, or praising God without shame, it's actually doing something and not just saying you're a Christian, but living it out by loving others who are also in fellowship with Christ.

We forget to love because of the way our culture runs and just the way modern-day society is. Everything is about protecting your opinion, protecting your feelings, and protecting your things. All this junk that just doesn't matter in the end. Show each other real love so that, in the end, we have true fellowship with Jesus Christ and are loving like Him and not like the world.

Loving a fellow believer doesn't mean you're just a good buddy or a nice pal. No. Loving a fellow believer means you would die for them. When Christ says we are to love like Him, He describes what His love actually looks like, and that is laying your life down unto the point of death. Not worrying about yourself constantly. In Scripture, Jesus never worried about Himself. The King of the universe did not care about how He was treated. He just knew that the will of the Father was greater than what He could say or how He could react.

REFLECT: Is there someone in your life you've been treating like a stranger instead of a brother, and what would it look like to love them the way Christ loves you?

"And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love."

To walk in love is to walk in obedience, and obedience is the ultimate picture of love, because you're saying to God, "Your will be done." But it's not enough to only obey. We have to check our hearts and ask where that obedience is coming from. The source matters more than we think. Real obedience has to come from a place of genuine, wholehearted desire to please Him. Because if we're not careful, we can find ourselves doing good works in our own strength thinking we're pleasing God, when really the only one being pleased is us. That is selfishness, not love.

Real obedience is the picture of sacrificial love, and we are called to live this out just as Christ did. He was obedient even unto death, but 100% innocent. He pleaded with the Father if there was another way, but there wasn't. And yet He still rose, walked that road, and went to the cross for every one of us, because of love. Lay your life down and live holy and righteous, just as He has called you to do.

REFLECT: When you obey God, is it coming from a genuine love for Him or from obligation, and how can you tell the difference?

"No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us."

No one has ever seen God with their eyes, but love does what sight can't do. It brings God Himself to dwell in us. Not partially, not occasionally, but fully. His love reaches its complete expression in us because He is the life living in you and I, and He is constantly drawing us near to His presence, compelling us and giving us hope.

On the flipside, if you're serving the world and practicing its deeds, evil will be brought to full expression. Serving the world is really just serving yourself, because the world satisfies physical desires and produces things like idolatry, wickedness, and false worship of yourself, thinking you are the most important person in the world.

And now you have the believer, full of the Holy Spirit, completely submitted to God, living in a place of total freedom and love, serving God and not yourself. That believer is not striving or performing; they are resting in the finished work of Christ and moving from a place of overflowing, unwavering worship, not obligation. Let the full expression of the Spirit of God rise up within you, because that is His will for you.

REFLECT: Are you living in the full expression of God's love, or are you allowing the world to bring something else to full expression in you?

"Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions."

To say that you love someone without actually loving them is a dangerous thing, and the reason it's dangerous is that it reduces love to an emotion. Emotions change and love does not.

The danger is found in the deception. You can convince yourself that you truly love someone, while the actions you commit in secret would make you a liar. Words mean nothing without truth behind them. They only mean something when you are actively living them out. If you are not living out the truth, then you are lying, and when you say "I love you" without living it, it becomes nothing more than an illusion. An illusion to yourself, and to the ones you claim to love.

So what does love look like? It is an action fueled by grace, desire, and strength. It defeats the enemy when no one is looking, and it gives glory to God in all situations. It has integrity, honesty, and honor. It turns from temptation, runs to the feet of Jesus, and defeats all evil. One of the best things you can do to ensure you live out this love and this truth is obtaining the ability to obey when it is easy to sin.

REFLECT: Does the way you live back up the love you claim, or are your words building an illusion that your actions tear down?

"So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father."

In order to be in perfect union with God the Father and His Son Jesus, you must remain obedient to the calling which is set before you. The calling is this: the death of yourself and living for Christ, remaining in a state of faithfulness, so that you have perfect fellowship with Him. And we know that fellowship with Christ means freedom from sin. He holds you in a secure union with Him and His Father, and the only thing you have to do is believe in this union, believe in the power that it holds, believe that the Spirit of Truth has really set you free, and has now secured you in His union.

When you allow the Holy Spirit to enter into your heart, Christ is the only thing that matters. He becomes your identity and when the Father sees you, He sees His Son. Be like His Son in this secure union and live out your purpose.

REFLECT: Do you actually believe you are securely held in union with God, or are you still living like someone who has to earn their way back to Him?

"Since we know that Christ is righteous, we also know that all who do what is right are God's children."

Christ's character can be exemplified in and through His children because of knowing Him through personal relationship. He is the standard set before us, perfection put into human flesh, placed on the cross for the whole world, so that we could live set apart and holy. And because of what He did, it is now possible to stand in the sight of the Father as a holy child of God and hear those words: "Well done, good and faithful servant." All because of the Son, Jesus Christ.

Having spiritual knowledge that Christ is righteousness gives you the ability to see Christ within others, because we are all one family under the Sonship of Christ. And if we do what is good and righteous because of the relationship we have with Christ, then others will recognize the finished work that has been done within you. Live righteously.

REFLECT: Are you allowing Christ within you to be so evident that other believers don't have to guess if you're a Christian, they just know?

"Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love."

Fear cannot exist in the presence of love. But not just any love. This love mentioned in Scripture is describing a personal, perfect, and beautiful love that shines light into every dark corner of fear, guilt, and shame. And if we let this love shine upon us (Numbers 6:25) and allow it to light up every element of doubt, then what will we have to fear? Nothing!

So don't let shame from the enemy tell you that you're not cleansed or that you can't be free, because it is by His blood that you are made worthy, having no fear. If you have been truly cleansed by the blood and you have fully experienced His perfect love, then you have nothing to fear. But if you still in some way have fear, then you need to open your eyes in order to see the love that's so freeing. If you keep your eyes shut, then fear will keep you pessimistic and in a constant state of anxiety, and shame will cover itself with more shame to keep itself a secret. These will slowly but surely destroy you, crushing you underneath the weight of them. Keeping you condemned. But we know that for those who are in Christ, there is no condemnation (Romans 8:1).

REFLECT: Am I condemning myself or am I trusting in the finished work of the cross? Do I really believe that what Jesus did for me is sufficient enough to give me life and freedom from sin, death, and condemnation?

"If you see a fellow believer sinning in a way that does not lead to death, you should pray, and God will give that person life. But there is a sin that leads to death, and I am not saying you should pray for those who commit it."

What's interesting about this verse is that it doesn't specify whether or not you should confront a struggling believer or call them out. We are often taught in Scripture to handle situations like this by pointing out their wrongdoing. But here it is different. Why is that? The Scripture here is clear in this instance: "if their sin is not leading to death, pray." This passage is not trying to say "don't confront wrong," instead it's saying that some things don't need to always be confronted, but instead faithfully prayed for, and this creates a balance. And this matters because prayer like this is an act of faith that says, "I believe Christ is at work in this person's life and I am not capable of saving them from anything." That will always ultimately be up to Him. It is Christ's work to deal with believers when we miss the mark, not ours.

Then there are those we aren't exactly commanded to pray for: those who have experienced the deep love of Christ and His nature, yet chose to walk away and return to sin. So how should we treat such a "believer?" Galatians 6:1 tells us that "you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path." Even though we don't necessarily need to pray for them, we are still expected to treat them the way Christ would. Jesus already showed us how to handle a person like this, and it looks like the prodigal son. Once the prodigal returns, welcome them back. They were once lost, but now are found. So receive them with open arms, not discontent, not shame, not dissatisfaction, not even sadness, but with overwhelming joy and gladness, because the Lord Jesus was always working to bring them back!

The key factor when Scripture mentions sin that leads to death is not even that the nature of sin is so dangerous, but the fact that when you walk away, you are cutting yourself off from the only source of eternal life. And that leads to death.

REFLECT: Are you treating the people who have walked away from Christ with the overwhelming joy of the prodigal son's father, or with discontent and disappointment?

"Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts."

A clear and direct command, and one that we should always obey. What do idols do? For one, they can lie in secret, tricking you into thinking that your relationship with God won't become damaged because of them. Idols will trick you into thinking your addiction is okay, that it's just a "frequent activity" or "it's what works for me." The very problem with those statements is that we often don't realize how selfish they really are, keeping you far from His love. Idols keep you attached to yourself, to what you want and what you desire, and that will slowly suck the life out of you.

Being drawn by Jesus is more than just giving up an addiction, saying no to drugs, or stopping what you look at in secret. It's about being transformed and actually wanting to live differently, not simply escaping what's trying to tear you down. Because when you get to the end of the line, you need Jesus more than you need to try and fix yourself. And guess what? You will fail on your own. You will never save yourself. If you want to do practical things to help yourself, go ahead, but if you believe with your whole heart that He can change you, then everything you try to do in your own discipline will mean nothing compared to the glory that is in Christ.

If you want a change, and you must genuinely want to change, your heart has to look like Christ's. Being drawn by His Spirit, overwhelmed by His strength and integrity every single day, devoted to Him and wanting what He wants. Removing an idol doesn't happen overnight. It takes death to self, a lot of submission, and running from sin so that Jesus can fight the battle He has already won.

REFLECT: If you truly love the Father, what are you still holding onto that you know is keeping you from Him, and are you really willing to let it go?