I recently talked with someone about what it means to be a Christian.
Think for a minute what you might say in such a conversation.
Here’s what I said:
Being a Christian means that you know you’re messed up—but you realize that the God who created you wants you to be whole. It means that you believe Jesus came to earth as God’s son and as a human being to die so that you could live.
It means choosing to follow Jesus and seeking to live in fellowship and unity with a holy God and with one another. It means knowing that it is only through God’s love and forgiveness that we can become whole.
In short, I said, being a Christian means that you love Jesus.
So that brings up another question—what does it mean to love Jesus? It’s an important question because it’s one that the resurrected Jesus asked Peter, the disciple who had denied knowing him three times before Jesus went to the cross.
In fact, Jesus asked it of Peter three times, and three times Peter was able to affirm his love for Jesus.
And each time, Jesus followed his declaration of love with a call to Peter to be a shepherd for his sheep, to love people as he had loved people.
Three Ways We Can Love Jesus
And there we have the first way we love Jesus:
1. Love others.
Jesus knew that only Peter’s genuine love for him would see Peter through the sufferings and trials he would face in bringing others to Christ. This love had to be the craving of Peter’s heart—Jesus could entrust the care of his flock to no less. Unless we truly love Jesus, we will never truly love others and care for them as God intended.
Jesus did not ask Peter if he loved his sheep, but he asked if he loved him. Without loving Jesus first, affection for God’s people can neither sustain nor lead us. Jesus’ sheep can be unresponsive, unappreciative, and even harshly critical of our efforts to love and to serve them. We can often find ourselves defeated and discouraged if we look to the sheep for the love that we find only in Jesus.
Instead, we must care for others through the overflow of Jesus’ love in us. And whatever we do for them, Jesus says, we do it for him as well.
2. Forgive as Jesus forgives.
When Jesus called Peter to feed his sheep and commissioned him to do his work, love and forgiveness came together.
Love and forgiveness can’t be separated. Love demands forgiveness. If we love like Jesus, we have to forgive others, just as Jesus forgives.
Forgiveness is not always seen as a virtue in our culture. In fact, people sometimes correlate forgiving with weakness—if you are strong enough, you won’t apologize or forgive—you’ll retaliate. Hence, the long list of Hollywood’s revenge movies.
And sometimes we confuse forgiveness with acceptance, thinking it means that forgiving lets the offender off the hook, indicating that the injury was justified, acceptable, or deserved. But forgiving another doesn’t mean that you’re okay with what happened or that you weren’t hurt by it. Forgiving another doesn’t mean that your world wasn’t turned upside-down and inside-out. In fact, forgiveness isn’t so much about others have done as it is about what you do.
Forgiveness is about loving as Jesus loves. It’s through his love in our hearts that we can forgive any wrong-doing, criticism, or rejection.
Although it is costly, forgiveness is also freeing. When you forgive, you are no longer under the power of another person. You have chosen to rise above the hurt and reclaim the joy of life—without dragging something very unpleasant along with you. Forgiveness allows you to look up and move toward the light instead of looking back and moving toward the darkness.
3. Follow Jesus.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” Jesus said.
Since the Jews had identified 613 commandments in what we call the Old Testament, an expert in the law asked Jesus a good question: What is the greatest commandment?
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments,” Jesus replied.
With his response, Jesus explained that love is the foundation of every commandment.
Jesus gave us more than 50 commands, but I’ve chosen seven of them from the gospels. As you read them, look for their basis of love.
Believe that Jesus is in the Father “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.“ John 14:11 Repent and Change Your Heart and Life “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:17 Love One Another “Love one another, even as I have loved you.” John 13:34 Deny Yourself and Follow Me “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 16:24-25 Abide in Me "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” John 15:4 Don't Worry--Trust in Me “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Matthew 6:25-26 Go and Make Disciples “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20
As you contemplate the words of Jesus, remember that his commandments are more than a to-do list–they are love letters that invite you to know love and be love.
Here’s a 4-minute video about how Jesus models love for us:
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