What Does Love Look Like?

Since we were kids, we’ve been programmed to pick sides. For me, it all started as a young kid in school playing kickball. Two captains had the responsibility of taking turns choosing players for their team while everyone nervously waited for their name to be called. All the best players were picked first. I was usually one of the two or three left at the end—I wasn’t very athletic, so it’s understandable. But boy, did I dread it each time!

Even as adults, we participate in this process every day. We may be a little less obvious and more refined, but we do it every day in our work, our politics, and our relationships. We pick sides, we dismiss those we disagree with, and at times we can even be mean and hateful. Worst of all, we do it within the four walls of our home when we defend our position or opinion over the goal of unity and understanding. 

During the days when Jesus walked the earth, it was no different. There are 613 commandments in the Old Testament, and the religious leaders of the day, the Pharisees, were challenging Jesus to say which commandment was the greatest. His reply was not what they expected. He said to them, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Without a doubt, Jesus set the best example of this! And if Jesus Himself commands us to follow after Him and to love God and others, we need to pay attention! But it doesn’t come naturally, so we need to work on it.

First Corinthians 13 is well known as being the “love chapter.” In it, we see the true definition of what it looks like to love others the way God intended.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

And then it goes on to say,

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.

What does this look like practically? If we apply two daily habits to our lives, we can all learn how to love like Jesus.

1. Read God’s Word - Romans 15:4 tells us, “Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” 

If we want to know how to love like Jesus, we need to look to the Word for instruction and encouragement!

2. Transform your Mind - Romans 12:2 says, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

If our physical bodies grow and mature, so should our minds. When you spend time in God’s Word, it will begin to change the way you think. God doesn’t want us to stay stuck in old mindsets. His plan is good and pleasing and perfect, but we have to do our part.

We can expect children to remain stubborn in their opinions and lose control of their emotions. Childish ways are appropriate for children. But as adults, and followers of Jesus, we can learn how to do better.

So how can we love like Jesus within the four walls of our home and beyond? We stay in His Word and let it transform our minds. Then as Jesus said in John 13:31, “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

“If the Lord Jesus Christ can put up with you, you ought to be able to put up with anybody.” - Charles Spurgeon

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