Devotional Thoughts: How to Love One Another

We are to live one another as Jesus loved us. How do we do this? How did Jesus love?

Jesus Elevated the Outcast, the Oppressed. Jesus noticed the outcast. Not only did Jesus notice them but He healed them. Jesus touched them. I think of the leper, the blind, the paralytic; they all were overlooked and oppressed in society. Jesus reached out to them, cared and healed them. This is Love. Someone with a disability isn’t less important than someone with a college degree.

Jesus Leveled the Playing Field. Over and over again Jesus rights wrongs. Jesus teaches through parables that level the playing field. He taught in this same chapter, John 13, that we should wash one another’s feet, not step on others for personal gain. Jesus was the greatest yet took on the posture of a servant. Irony is all over the New Testament. Irony is a good thing. The first shall be last. The last shall be first.

What is Small is Big. What seems big to the world is small but what seems small can be a big deal. Jesus fed 5,000 with a small meal a boy gave. Jesus talked about faith the size of a tiny mustard seed in Mark 4. Small is big! My small gift or effort is big in God’s Kingdom! Even small acts of kindness and love matter. Just smiling, noticing someone who feels insignificant, helping someone, saying I’m sorry. God sees. God notices and we should too. Small things can carry big love!

Jesus Laid Down His Life for Others. This is the greatest love: to give up one’s life for another. Love is selfless. It puts the other person first. We are to love others as Jesus loves us.

Jesus Forgives. Just as Jesus forgives we are to also forgive. This is an act of love.

How long will we continue to place ourselves first? Will we ever learn? Ironically when we place ourselves first we are really last. The greatest beauty is loving one another as Jesus loves us.