Mission Venture Ministries

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35) 

The most important ways we are to imitate our heavenly Father is by walking in love, as Jesus commanded His disciples just before going to the cross. 

Christ’s love is selfless. He “gave Himself up for us” (Ephesians 5:2). This began with His incarnation when He left the glories of heaven to take on human flesh and live on this fallen earth among sinful people. But His selfless love stooped even lower when He humbled Himself to the point of death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8). 

Jesus gave Himself as an offering for our sin by dying in our place. Now everyone who believes in Him and trusts in His death as payment for sin receives a full pardon and a righteous standing before holy God. 

Although salvation is a free gift offered to us by God’s grace through faith, it cost the Savior more than we can imagine. On the cross, He became a sacrifice to God by bearing His Father’s wrath until every sin was fully punished. Because Jesus was the sinless Lamb of God, divine justice was fully satisfied, and His death became a fragrant aroma to His Father, signifying that atonement was complete and forgiveness of sins was accomplished. 

Our minds cannot fathom such infinite love, yet we are told to walk in love just as Christ did. How is this even possible? We live in a fallen world, face temptations, and struggle with sin. In our humanity and self-effort, we have no ability to love like Christ. However, when we become God’s beloved children, by accepting His love of forgiveness, His love can be expressed through us. He gives us a new nature, which is created in His likeness in righteousness, holiness, and truth (Ephesians 4:24). We also have Christ’s life flowing through us as we abide in Him (John 15:5), and the Holy Spirit dwelling within us produces the fruit of love in our heart. The entire Trinity is at work showering us with grace, which frees us to walk in love. 

Christ emptied Himself of His rights and privileges in order to give us what we desperately needed but could never achieve on our own – salvation. These same actions of selflessness, forgiveness, and sacrifice should become evident in our life as we walk in love like Jesus did. 

Being self-centered is part of the flesh nature we were born with, and the battle to overcome its sinful patterns continues after salvation. Our culture does us no favors because it promotes putting ourselves first and demanding our rights. However, Christ like love puts the interests and needs of others first and is willing to give up our rights. This is why Romans 14:13-15 says if we let our freedoms hurt a fellow believer, we are no longer walking according to love. 

The expression of forgiving love is perhaps the most difficult for us to understand, because in our mind, those who wrong us deserve only justice and vengeance. Therefore, we must remember that we likewise were unworthy of God’s pardon, yet Jesus died for us so we could be forgiven. Having received such great love, we have no right to withhold forgiveness from anyone else. 

Sometimes extending love to others is costly, especially if the person is unlovable or rude. This, in fact, is how we all appeared to God before salvation, yet He loved us while we were still in that condition. Christ laid down His life for us; should we not be willing to sacrifice lesser things like convenience, time, or personal preferences in our love for others? 

Christ like love begins in our mind as we come to know and believe the love that God has for us (1 John 4:16). If He hadn’t loved us first, we’d never be able to care for others (1 John 4:19). But His love now abides in us and, as we depend on Him, it flows through our life to touch those around us. Although the Lord Himself teaches us to love, we must become imitators of God and put His loving ways into practice each day until doing so becomes the habit in our life. 

Therefore, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. (1 John 4:7)

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