Bible Reading: Galatians 2:17 -21
I live my life in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
IF YOU WANTED to be a world-whipping soccer player, who would you rather spend time with: (a) a professional baseball player? (b) a professional couch potato? (c) a professional hockey player? (d) a professional soccer player? Unless you subscribe to some weird theory of cross-training, you would want to be with the one who plays your sport at the highest level so you could pick up skills from his or her example.
Just like that, you need to spend time with Jesus Christ to learn about love. He’s “the pro.” His example will help you figure out how to love God and others at the highest level. Here is more of what you can learn about Christ’s love:
First, Christ’s love is sacrificial. Paul cheered that Christ “loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2 :20). Jesus proclaimed, “I lay down my life for the sheep . . . . No one can take my life from me. I lay down my life voluntarily” (John 10:15, 18). Loving people like Christ loved might cost you time, money, energy, comfort, and convenience. And yet John, known as the apostle of love, issues this challenge: “Christ gave up his life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16). Christians love even when it costs something because they have experienced Christ’s sacrificial love.
Second, Christ’s love kept him connected to people. He mingled with crowds, lived with his disciples, went to holiday feasts, and spent time in the temple and synagogue. Even though he took time to rest and pray alone, Jesus was a mixer, pouring himself into people. If you want to follow his example, invest your life in others. You might make friends with a new group of kids at school, join a team or club, or volunteer for a committee at school or church. Get involved with people with the goal of being a friend, encouraging them, and sharing the Good News with them. Then you’re loving like Christ loved.
Third, Christ’s love was tough. He wasn’t unloving when he blasted the Pharisees for their hypocrisy (see Matthew 23: 13, 16, 33). Nor was he unloving when he warned people of the fires of hell (see Matthew 5:22; 18:8). Love doesn’t need to be wimpy to be kind. You are following Christ’s example of hard-nosed love when God leads you to speak out against a school assignment that violates scriptural principles-or when you question a policy that is dishonest or unfair. You might not like to warn people they’re running away from God. But to do anything else is unloving.
REFLECT: What surprises you about Christ’s love? Of all the ways Christ loves you, which is the hardest for you to imitate?
PRAY: Ask the “love pro” to teach you his ways for loving those around you.
