Living like Jesus

‘Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that’ (Ephesians 5:2).

In everything in my life, I am definitely not perfect. But I want to love and live like Jesus.

Why? Because I know it’s the best way to live. We have just been through the Easter week when we saw the love that Jesus extended to us by his sacrificial death. In and through his life and how he lived, he gave us examples of how to conduct ourselves with family and others.

When we love and live like Jesus, we are lifted outside ourselves. We shed self-interest – with our spouse, kids, friends, everyone. His brand of love sees beyond the normal range of human vision – over walls of resentment and barriers of betrayal. When we love and live like Jesus, we rise above petty demands and snobbish entitlement. We loosen our tight-fisted anxiety and relax in a surplus of generosity.

To love and live like Jesus, we need to think and feel. We need reason and emotion. Both head and heart working together. It’s the only way to bring perfect love into our imperfect lives. When you open your heart, love changes your mind. Let that sentence soak in. Your mind can be transformed when it receives a divine impulse from the Holy Spirit to your heart. You’ll experience a revolution in your thinking when you allow your heart to enter the conversation. It’s what Paul was getting at when he said, ‘You’ll be changed from the inside out’ (Romans 12:1b).

If you seek a reasonable love and life, you will miss out on an extraordinary life and love – not cautious but extravagant!

Lutheran Tract Mission has many resources to help you grow in your personal life and be like Jesus in your words and actions.

Click here to review Lutheran Tract Mission’s Christian growth resources.

Anne Hansen is Lutheran Tract Mission’s Tract Development Officer.