Called to Love

Have you ever been on a team where it feels like a battle to love your teammates? Or have you ever competed against teams or players who seem impossible to love? Maybe they have a poor attitude or are unkind in how they compete. Perhaps their actions show they do not deserve your kindness and love.

Let’s be honest; we, too, can be hard to love at times. But as followers of Jesus, we know that God loves us even when we do not deserve it. As we seek to become more like Jesus, we are called to love others as He has loved us.

God's love is powerful and transforms us from the inside out.

His love is greater than any love that we have seen or experienced before. The Apostle John tells us in John 3:16, “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” 

God loves us with a sacrificial love.

God sent His Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life and take on the punishment of death that we deserved for our sins, and then raised Him from the dead, conquering death and giving us the opportunity to be in relationship with God. 

God's love for us is unconditional.

The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:4-5, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!” While we were still dead in our sins, God loved us. When we did not deserve God’s love, He poured His love out on us.

As disciples of Jesus, we are commanded to love others as God has loved us. Jesus tells us in John 15:12, “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.”

But, how are we able to love those around us with a perfect, unconditional, sacrificial love? It can sometimes feel like an impossible challenge to love those around us. We live in a world that is broken with sin, and we fight our own sin in our lives daily.

The Holy Spirit ultimately empowers us to love like Jesus and to become more like Him. We love others out of the overflow of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, and we want others to experience the amazing love that Jesus has shown us.

When we are followers of Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit within us as our helper and guide.

^“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.” – Galatians 5:22-23

The Holy Spirit produces fruit in our lives and hearts, giving us the ability to love others as Jesus has loved us.

When it feels like an uphill battle to love those God has placed in our path, remember how Jesus has loved you. Remember the calling on your life to become more like Jesus, and the gift that you have with the Holy Spirit to love others as Jesus has loved you. Loving others may seem challenging, but when it comes from the overflow of your walk with Jesus, it is not only possible, but life-changing.