Our Call to Love Like Jesus Did

What does it look like to love like Jesus did when He walked on this earth?

How are we supposed to look at the people who also call the same place as us home who are very different from us? Even those whose lifestyle is one we may not agree with?

There have been some discussions happening in our society as a whole, and on a smaller scale in specific cities or neighbourhoods that have prompted me to wrestle with these questions again. In the last few weeks, I've been going back to the gospels to see how Jesus loved these people, to see what it should look like for me.

Before I write the rest of this, I want to be clear on one thing. While this post has been prompted by some recent happenings, this is not a political post, nor is it meant to become a forum for discussing the lifestyles of others that we may or may not agree with. I am not looking to discuss whether certain recent decisions are the correct ones. I will delete all comments that make this about that without notice, as that is missing my point completely.

As I looked at how Jesus loved in the gospels, I was struck by one thing specifically. He loved and treated people who were looked down on by Jewish society of His day in a way that was radical. He gave them a value and a place that they were not used to being in.

Here is just a quick run through of some of the interactions Jesus had with people who were looked down on in Jewish society:

• Jesus touched a man with leprosy when He healed the man. (Matthew 8:3)
• Jesus called a tax collector to be His disciple when He called Matthew. Tax collectors were looked down on by other Jews. (Matthew 9:9, Luke 5:27-31)
• Jesus healed blind men. (Matthew 9:27-29, 20:29-34)
• Jesus restored a demon-possessed man. (Mark 5:1-20)
• Jesus healed a women who had been bleeding for 12 years. He didn't condemn her when she touched His robe, although she would have been unclean at the time. (Mark 5:25-34)
• Jesus honoured the faith of an outsider and drove a demon out of her daughter. (Mark 7:24-30)
• Jesus brought a widow's son back to life. (Luke 7:12-15)
• Jesus honoured and welcomed a "sinful" women into His presence to anoint His feet. (Luke 7:36-50)
• Jesus healed 10 men with leprosy. (Luke 17:11-14)
• Jesus had a conversation with a Samaritan woman. (John 4:1-26)

In all of these accounts, Jesus had compassion on and loved these people. He took the time to value these people who had been rejected by their society, who had been made less than. Jesus lifted them back up to where they belonged.

If I look at Jesus' interactions with people who were looked down on by society, I'm challenged in how I treat people in my own world. I am challenged to be different from the society I live in. I'm challenged to love all people and to look at them through Jesus' eyes.

Rather than seeing only the lifestyle of people I come across, I choose to see the fact that they are people created in the image of God. We all are, regardless of what may be seen on the surface. And, because we're all created in the image of God, we're worthy of love and care.

I'm not advocating for no consequences or no boundaries in relationships. But. I am talking about choosing to speak the truth of the identity God gave people into their lives, rather than putting them down for what is obvious.

I guess, as I've wrestled with these questions the last few weeks, I've come back to one thing that I think is the starting place for where we begin to love like Jesus did when He was on earth. It starts with how we talk about and to people who have lifestyles we don't agree with. Our language matters. When we speak about the identity God has given people, we give them something to live up to. When we speak about the things we see about people, in sometimes derogatory terms, we give them nothing to live up to and we do everything but love them.

I know how easy it is to just use the common terms for different groups of people when referring to them, but, I do believe that, as Christians, we need to choose differently. We need to choose our language carefully, and choose to use words that speak life and truth and identity to even the hardest of those to love in our society.

No More Sin?

Is it really possible for those who follow God to stop sinning completely?

It kind of seems like Scripture tells us that if we're in Christ, we shouldn't sin anymore. But, in my experience this really doesn't feel possible.

I just finished reading 1 John. In this letter, John seems to say that if we are in Christ, we don't keep on sinning.

"Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous just as He is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God." (1 John 3:7-9)

What does John mean when He says those born of God don't go on sinning? How is that possible given that we all still struggle with sin?

This seems especially strange for John to say in light of what John writes earlier:

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8)

How does that fit?

I think John's point here is more about our attitude toward sin in our lives. 

When we're not walking in God's ways, sin is no big deal to us. We're not bothered by it. Mostly, we don't even think about it. It's probably not even called sin in our lives. We just go on doing whatever it is we want to do.

But, when we're born of God, we're bothered by sin in our lives. We can't just merrily go along pretending it's all okay. We're bothered by sin and do something about it.

It's not that we never sin again. It's that we're not content to stay in our sin.

We decide to make different choices. We stop doing certain activities or going to certain places or hanging out with certain people.

We fill our time and our minds with choices that keep us from sin.

We seek out accountability and support from other Christians as we work to rid our lives of sin.

We do whatever it takes to remove that sin we've become aware of from our lives.

All We Need to Live a Godly Life

Are we really able to live godly lives?

"His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Often it doesn't seem like we have everything we need for a godly life. It feels like what we've been given falls short of that.

Usually, the truth is actually that we haven't chosen to make use of what we've been given. We have a gift we've been given, but it's sitting there, unopened. It looks nice, but that's not what it is meant for. It was meant to be opened and used in our lives.

This gift is God's power in our lives. God has chosen to provide us with His power to live differently, to live a godly life. But, we, far too often, don't allow His power to work in us. We prevent it from doing so, and, as a result, feel weak and completely unable to live the life of godliness we say we desire to live.

God has promised us that we have the ability by His power to live a full, godly life. The problem is us. When we feel like it's impossible to do so it's because we're limited God's power.

Where have you limited God's power in your life?

Are you willing to allow God's power full access in your life?