To Love Like He Loves

In this day and age, members of the Christian faith often face an internal struggle. It can feel difficult or even impossible to reconcile the idea that we are called to be in this world, but not of it. For many Christians, this can lead to an unintentional belief of moral superiority over those who do not subscribe to Christianity. However, at the end of the day, that feeling is not part of God’s plan for us as stewards of the faith, and can often limit our ability to draw others closer to Him, especially those who have been previously hurt by the Church. Today, I pose this question: Do we truly understand what it means to love like He loves?

When Jesus died on the cross, He didn’t just die for the people that would come to know and accept Him. He didn’t just die for the “good Christian.” He didn’t just die for the churchgoer. He didn’t just die for the preacher or the Sunday school teacher. He also died for the liar. For the murderer. For the thief and the vandal and the teenage mother and every other person that we as Christians are often led to believe that we are somehow better than.

Guess what? In God’s eyes, our sins are no less than theirs. So when we sit back and ridicule the people that we view as “bad” or “less than,” not only are we earning ourselves the title of “hypocrite” but we are tragically failing to show them the love of Christ, which we are called to do.

In 1 Peter 4:8, the Bible says, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.”

Above all. So many times throughout scripture, we are told to love our neighbor. We fail to realize that “our neighbor” means everyone. Not only our fellow Christian. Not only the sinners that we are friends with. Not only the people we like.

We are called above all else to love every person we meet. As hard as it may be to love people we disagree with, we have to try. Because when all we do is pass judgement and hatred on these people, we are literally driving them away from God, and that is the total opposite of what we are called to do.

In Romans 5:8, the Bible says, “But God demonstrates His own love for us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Take a moment to really take that in. While we were sinners, He died for us. Jesus literally gave His life to love the sinner. If He can endure all that pain and torture and ridicule for us, even though we didn’t deserve it, why is it such an uphill battle for us to show kindness to people we don’t agree with? Where do our intentions truly lie? Are we really and truly striving to be the hands and feet of Christ, or are we too caught up in trying to prove that we are the “best” Christians? Are we striving to welcome others into His kingdom, or are we just playing church?

In John 13:34-35, the Bible says, “So I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Just as I have loved you. That means we must love each other despite our differences. Despite our disagreements. Despite our downfalls and failures. The reason that the world often sees Christians as a people of hate is not entirely because they don’t believe; it’s because we fail to love as Christ loves us. We let the enemy trick us into believing we are good people, and that is dangerous, because none of us are truly good. We have all sinned. We are all imperfect. We should be proclaiming how amazing God’s grace is from the rooftops, rather than damning others to hell from the pews.

I am not saying we should be ignorant to and accepting of sin. We should absolutely be holding each other accountable when we mess up. I am simply saying that we must be more loving and accepting in our endeavors to do so. We should not be so quick to judge, because we are not perfect. And in God’s eyes, the white lies we tell or our envious attitudes towards our neighbors are no less sinful than someone else’s murder or adultery. The idea that any of these sins are greater offenses than the other is a worldly conception, not a biblical one.

As I sit here writing this, the song “So will I (100 Billion X)” by Hillsong plays in the background. If you’ve never listened to this song, I highly recommend it.

As for its relation to this post, I think a few lines in particular really exemplify what it means to love like He loves. They read:

“I can see Your heart eight billion different ways

Every precious one a child You died to save

If you gave Your life to love them, so will I.”

There are roughly 7, 645, 601, 395 people alive on this planet at this very moment. And Jesus died for every single one of them.

So, what are you doing to show love to them the same way that He does?

Do you truly love like He loves?

As you continue through your walk with Christ, I challenge you to truly love people. Show kindness to someone you wouldn’t normally speak to. Help someone you wouldn’t normally think of helping. Above all, just be kind, and watch as things around you start to change for the better.