7 Ways to Love like Jesus

1 John 4:8 tells us that God is love. John 3:16 says that God so loved us that He sent His only Son to grant eternal life to whoever believes in Him. Christ’s love for us led Him to the cross to die for us. In a world where our human understanding of love is blurry, how do we extend that relentless love that Jesus has for us?

Here are 7 Ways to Love like Jesus:

1. Loving God first

Jesus had his heart fixed on His Father. Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus stealing away to spend time alone with God. When you love someone, you want to spend as much time as possible with them. Jesus was no exception with His Heavenly Father. 

When He taught the Lord’s Prayer, His love and reverence for God came through in the words that we still pray today. Hallowed be Your Name – Your Name is holy God. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Acknowledgement of whose will is sovereign before even getting to the requests of “Give us this day our daily bread.” The prayer ends with adoration, “For Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever.” Amen! Jesus loved His Father. 

In Matthew 22, Jesus declared that the great and first commandment is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37)

Q. Why do you believe it’s important to love God first before you can love anyone else?

2. Loving ourselves

Jesus was unapologetic about who He was, where He came from, and where He ultimately belonged. His identity was secure.

He didn’t define Himself according to anyone or anything but His heavenly Father. Jesus loved Himself enough to walk in His divine identity. 

We also have a divine identity when we believe in Jesus as our Savior. We have been gifted with the Holy Spirit and He is connected to our very beings. 

Q. In what specific ways can you love yourself better, according to your divine identity?

3. Loving the unlovable

In Mark 1, Jesus touched a leper to heal him. He could have spoken healing over the leper, but He chose to touch him. That’s love!

The religious leaders plotted against Jesus. His heart was grieved at their callousness, and He tried to teach them how to serve with goodness. Yet, most of them remained difficult to love.

The people followed Jesus, often because of what He could do for them. In Mark 3, the crowd almost crushed Jesus looking for healing. In John 6, Jesus stated that the people only sought Him for food.

Despite using Him so blatantly, Jesus would willingly die for them. 

There may be people in your life who are hard to love. 

Q. What techniques do you use to love those in your life who are difficult to love?

4. Loving truthfully

The religious leaders did not want to yield to the Messiah they preached about. They chose to hold on to their corrupt worldly power.

In Matthew 23, Jesus had already spent considerable time in the temple answering questions from the religious leaders. They were trying to trap Him into making a blasphemous statement – one that would get Him the death penalty. 

Jesus delivered a fiery list of grievances against them. Known as The Seven Woes, Jesus passionately called the religious leaders out for their hypocrisy and oppression. He was brutally honest and yet, there was love. It was tough love, in hopes that they would repent. 

Jesus never sugar-coated anything, but He always had compassion. Even in His righteous anger, He had deep love. 

Q. What makes it so hard to tell the truth in love?

5. Loving without prejudice

Jesus’ salvation is universal. Heaven is filled with every tribe and tongue and nation. This is why racism is not biblical. We are all God’s creation, created in His image and likeness. 

In John 13, Jesus washed His disciples’ feet. Leaders need to love like Jesus loves, and not lord their position over others. 

In Luke 8, we see many women accompanying Jesus, some married, some single, some with a past. Jesus loved them all.

The LGBTQ community will probably not know their identity in Him if we don’t show them His love.

We must pray for people of different faiths and ask Jesus to reveal Himself to them. Show them what the love of Christ looks like! That goes for those who have different political persuasions too.

Q. What keeps us from extending love to certain groups?

6. Loving with courage

Throughout His ministry, Jesus stood up to the religious leaders and chose compassion over the status quo. Then He faced horrible torture and death for us.

Loving enough to go through anything, whether it’s rejection, betrayal, ridicule, or even physical harm is a big kind of love. That’s agape love – the love that led Jesus to the cross.

There are 4 types of love in Scripture:

1. Eros – Romantic/Sensual love

2. Storge – Family love

3. Philia – Unity/Church Brotherhood or Sisterhood

4. Agape – Pure/Perfect/Sacrificial love

Many of us don’t have to die for the Gospel, but we are called to be a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). That requires standing firm, stepping up and speaking out sometimes. That requires going where we don’t want to go, saying what we’d rather not say, or doing what seems so hard to do. 

Q. Are there specific ways in which you can love more courageously?

7. Loving anyway

Jesus knows all our sins. He knows every ugly thought, word, feeling, and action, and yet He loves us anyway. He loves us enough to nail those sins to the cross and to reach out His righteous right hand and pull us out of the pit. He loves us enough to be the Good Shepherd, to offer us living water, to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life for us, so that we can spend eternity with Him. 

He sees the best in us because He sees Himself in us! In fact, He would take people like you and me and give us the gift of His Spirit! 

When we are betrayed and our feelings get hurt, can we love others anyway? 

Q. What would it take for you to extend love to someone no matter what they’ve done to you?

Sister, you are so deeply loved by the King of kings and the Lord of lords. His is a love that should fill us up and pour out of us. I pray that these seven ways to love like Jesus will draw you closer to Him and to those around you so that they can experience His relentless love as well.

Heavenly Father, Thank You so much for Your perfect love. Lead us to follow You ever more closely and to love others with a spirit of boldness and passion that can only come from You. May we reflect You well. In Jesus’ Holy name, AMEN.

Author: Tischa is a Trinidad-born writer and speaker married to Harald, a Dutchman. They live in The Woodlands, TX with their two sons, Julian and Aidan. Tischa brings authenticity and vulnerability to all her teachings on Scripture. She is the author of “Unpopular: Following Jesus, Not the Crowd” as well as several other Bible teachings and Bible studies. Apart from teaching Scripture from her living room and various churches, Tischa’s work in ministry extends from homeless women in Houston, to expat wives in Budapest, Hungary, to rural villagers in Malawi, Africa, and women across the US. For more info, go to tischavandereep.com