Loving like Jesus
Elaine Poproski Download: Audio
Scripture: John 15:9 – 17
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. Read more…
Looking to Sunday
by Elaine Poproski
Someone once asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. Jesus responded by naming, not just the greatest commandment, but the second-greatest commandment as well. That second one is this: You shall love your neighbour as yourself (Matthew 22:39).
As someone who, for a lot of years, did not love myself well, I have rarely been inspired by these words. Love your neighbour as yourself? Well, if I don’t love myself well, I guess that means there’s no obligation to love my neighbour well, either?
I’m being facetious. Of course the intent of Jesus’ words is that I would love my neighbour well. (It’s also Jesus’ intent that I would love myself well, but that’s a topic for a different day.) The point I want to make is that if the standard for loving others is me, the standard is woefully inadequate. That’s why I prefer the way Jesus evolves that commandment in John’s Gospel, where it reads this way: love one another as I have loved you (John 15:12).
…as I have loved you.
Those are words that inspire me. Those are words that challenge me. Those are words to strive for. Because the way Jesus loved us was to give up everything – all His divine privilege. The way Jesus loved us was to willingly – voluntarily – suffer the horrendous torture and death of the cross so that He could defeat sin and death for us. That is a standard worth striving for. But is it a realistic standard? How can any of us possibly hope to truly love like Jesus loved?
On our own, we can’t. We are too flawed, too broken, too diseased by sin. But we aren’t on our own. We are rooted in Jesus – grounded / founded / established in Jesus. Those roots empower us and equip us to love in a way that is, quite honestly, humanly impossible. That’s why we must pay attention to our roots. That’s why we must nurture the health and strength of our roots. Are we pushing down deep into Jesus, allowing Him to nourish us and grow us? That is how we will love like Jesus loves.
As you prepare for Sunday, perhaps spend some time considering the health of your roots. What does the way you are loving others suggest about that health? What stands in the way of you growing your roots deeper into the ‘soil’ that is Jesus? How might we as a church better nurture each other’s roots and together better love like Jesus loves?