11 different ways to show love like Jesus in the Bible
11 different ways to show love like Jesus in the Bible
God is Love
Jesus loves, Jesus is God and God is love, ‘Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love’ (John 4: 8-9). We are made in his image (Genesis 1 verses 26-31). Take a moment and think about that? We are made in his image… which means that we are made to love. But how exactly? How did Jesus’ actions show love? There are many examples of Jesus showing love in the Bible. How can we model that in the way we love people in our own lives? In this blog post; Explore 11 different ways to show love like Jesus in the Bible.
Valentines Day
Love is almost here in the form of Valentine’s Day. Truth be told it’s not a day that I’ve ever celebrated with my husband. In true romantic style he’ll say “It’s too commercial and I don’t need that day to tell you that I love you, when I tell you every day”. Who said romance was dead friends? Maybe next year is the year I’ll get the flowers and card!
Thinking about Love
However, surrounded by the commercialism of Valentine’s Day, the chocolates, the pink heart balloons in shop windows, and the rows of Valentine cards, Valentine’s Day does have me thinking a lot about Love. Specifically how Jesus loved. And how we can learn to love better by looking at examples of Jesus showing love in the Bible.
11 different ways to show love like Jesus in the Bible
1. Loving with Empathy and Compassion
The Compassion of Christ
Jesus showed throughout his ministry that he cared. He showed this in his compassion for those who had no status or were unaccepted in society; Touching and healing lepers and the blind and spending time in the company of tax collectors. He heals Mary Magdalene (one of his disciples) and a woman who had been bleeding for years and was considered unclean. He also speaks to an outcast Samaritan woman at a well who has had five husbands and is living with a sixth.
There is no one it seems that Jesus considers unworthy of his love.
We can love like Jesus and show the love of God by not judging others because of their social status, occupation, race, or circumstances in life. We can also show our love by caring for the welfare of others- emotionally and physically. Jesus cared about the physical needs of his people too showing this in the feeding of the 5000.
2. Loving in the difficult times
Jesus loved in the difficult times. Jesus physically cries with compassion at the death of Lazurus, he mourns with those who are mourning. He doesn’t separate himself from their emotions but joins with those that are full of sorrow. (Read about this in John 11- 36)
It’s easy to love when things are going well but when you hit a hard time that’s truly when you see how well you can love.
Who hasn’t experienced hard times? Yet Jesus shows that simply showing up and being fully present with others in their time of hardship is an act of love in itself.
3. By Listening
Jesus loves in his listening. We talk to Jesus in prayer and he listens anytime of the day or night. Jesus showed his love by listening to the concerns of those around him. He felt their pain and understood their needs.
We can show love by actively listening- not always waiting to speak but listening to the needs of others.
4. Loving with acts of Service and humility
Jesus loved in acts of service. In his healing of others, in his preaching, and in his discipling. Even though he was a leader he demonstrated his love by putting himself last and showing humility.
The Last Supper
In his last meal with his disciples, he chooses to wash the disciples’ feet. This humble act is not lost on the disciples. He is demonstrating through this act, how to love and lead through service. We can do this in our relationships with others. What acts of service can you show to your partner or friends? What good deeds can you show in your community?
5. Loving Honesty
Jesus’s words speak in truth and honesty. He is never rude. He is fiercely honest. When he turns over the tables in the temple he shows a rare glimpse of anger and frustration, but even then he speaks with passion and honesty.
When interrogated, accused, and belittled nearing the end of his ministry and human life his composure remains calm. He still speaks with honesty and truth. When questioned by Pilot Jesus says;
“I was born a King, and I have come into this world to prove what truth really is. And everyone who loves the truth will receive my words’
(John 18-verse 37)
In our communication with others, we can learn to speak and act honestly and with truth. In a world today where we question what is true or false we can practice the art of sensitive honesty in our relationships with others.
6. Loving with Acceptance
Jesus accepts people for who they are, whether they are rich or poor people, tax collectors, Kings and noblemen, Roman Guards, or simple fishermen.
We can choose to love those who are not like us and to accept people from different walks of life and backgrounds. We can celebrate and love the individuality in people and their different gifts, rather than putting people down.
7. Loving with Forgiveness
Jesus shows love in how he forgives; In the ultimate act of forgiveness by dying on the cross.
Jesus says ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing”
Luke 23:34
8. Loving with Patience
Jesus shows his love in his patience and compassion in the lives of others. After days of preaching and seeing a large crowd who follow him, the response is not one of anger or frustration but one of patience and empathy.
“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd”
Matthew 9: 36
When we find ourselves being impatient with others we can look to Jesus’s example and reach for more compassion and patience.
9. Unconditional Love
Jesus loves with an unconditional love. For those who choose to love Jesus, he gives us clear guidance (through God’s word) in how we choose to live and love in the Kingdom of God here on earth.
The Narrow Way
Receiving his love doesn’t mean that we can live our lives on our own terms and do whatever we want. We follow his framework for living and loving. When we choose Jesus we are choosing the ‘narrow way’.
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
Matthew 7: 13-14
We acknowledge that we are accepted and loved fully through his simple grace (his undeserved love). Jesus is the narrow way. We don’t earn his love, it’s free. He accepts us, he loves us and despite our faults, he forgives us.
10. Loving with obedience and sacrifice
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
John 15: 13
Obedience- It’s a controversial word (think wedding vows). In Jesus we see the true meaning of obedience. Jesus obeyed when he gave his life to save yours. In the garden of Gethsemane, he struggles with the decision.
The struggle in obedience
The struggle in obedience is in the denying of your own will when you know God wants you to do something different. To obey you often need to lay down your own needs and make a sacrifice. Jesus knows he has the power to avoid his ultimate sacrifice (he is God after all) but still chooses to obey and suffer a terrible death on the cross. He allows himself to be separated from God the Father. In obeying he shows his love for God and for mankind. It’s not only a sacrifice but a true demonstration of his love.
We may never need to sacrifice our own lives but we can obey his word and try to live out his will in our own lives. This often means making a sacrifice on our part- and that is where true obedience is found.
11. With Joy and celebration
Jesus loved with joy and celebration. He took time to celebrate with his disciples and family. He attended weddings and group meals- he appreciated other people and celebrated with them. He engaged with the community.
We too can celebrate the high points, the joy in coming together with others to celebrate weddings, birthdays, and personal successes- love is not selfish but shared with others.
The Greatest Commandment
It’s not a coincidence that the new commandment Jesus gives to us in the New Testament speaks of Love.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your mind”
Matthew 22: 37
The Love of Jesus- a powerful example
The love of Christ comes first. As we love God with all our heart and soul we are then able to give love to others too.
Start first with loving God first and the rest will follow.
Love is the greatest
1Corinthians13:1-8
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.”
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