For Part 1 of this posting, click here...
God doesn’t want me to love like Jesus just so I’ll learn not to be selfish or so I’ll practice putting others first. This isn’t about becoming a better, nicer person. This isn’t about learning to be humble. This is about having more freedom. This is about regaining what was lost in the garden.
The love God designed for me to experience with Himself and in relationship with others was all lost in that first act of disobedience.
Can you imagine our relationships functioning out of perfect love! No offending, no taking offense, no selfishness, no bitterness, no unforgiveness, no harsh words, no defensiveness, no wounding—only divine love!
God wants me to experience love as He has always intended for me!
He loves me so much that He desires I walk in it regularly, wear it distinctly, live in it permanently!
It is this love—His love—that surpasses knowledge and fills me up to the fullness of Himself (Eph. 3:19). That is His desire. That I be filled up with Him. Not that I be less about me and more about others. That is just a result.
God’s love is the vehicle to more of Himself! When I am filled up with His love, I am full of Him.
It is love that roots me and grounds me (Eph. 3:17). This is where I am safe. When I am found in His love—I am no longer lost and am less susceptible to the flesh, to the world and to the attacks of the evil one.
When I take love into me deeply it can only come out of me as I respond to others.
That is how Jesus walked. He was so full of love that even in His weariness He was not bothered by the pull on the hem of His garment (Mark 5:28, 34). It was one more opportunity to love someone.
So how? How do I receive this kind of love, God? I want to love like Jesus! How do I get this in me so it can flow out to others?
I must be broken over and repent of my selfishness and pride!
I then must ask for an outpouring of His love to come over me, in me and through me!
“If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” John 14:14. I trust God to do it! It is His work, but I have to repent and ask.
“If you ask anything in My name, I will do it” John 14:14. I trust God to do it! It is His work, but I have to repent and ask.
I can love like Jesus! He was God, but He was flesh—like me. He always loved, but the people and their needs were tiring as well.
He loved divinely. That I cannot do. I can never love perfectly and won’t even love well at times. But I can love purposefully.
Purpose to love like Jesus.
I know that God would not ask this of me—offer this up to me in this way—if it were not possible! I can love outside of myself.
Love paramount in all I do, say and am—can be! If I trust God, He will do it!
“Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you.” Ephesians 5:1, 2
