Do you know that Jesus loves you? He does, and with that love, we are to love others. In John chapter 15, we see a progression of this love. The father loves the Son. The Son remains in the Father’s love through obedience. The Son loves us in the same way the Father loves him. We remain in Son’s love through obedience. We love each other in the same way the Son loves us. By loving each other, we are obeying the specific commandment of Jesus; thus, we remain in His love.
To know how to love as the Son loves, we need to look at the Greek word “love”. The Greek word is agapate. Agapate means to love, to long for, to take pleasure in, to wish well.
Let’s look at some scripture verses. Matthew 9:36, Mark 7:24-30, Mark 10: 13-16, Mark 10: 21, Luke 4:33:35, and John 8:1-11. Jesus not only talked about love but lived lovingly; what stands out to you from the verses above?
Jesus gave us a direct command to love each other in the same way that He has loved us. Considering how Jesus and the full meaning of the word “love” in the Greek language, How can we long for others, take pleasure in them, and wish them well by living lovingly? God’s Word guides us and helps us to live out this vital mandate of Jesus.
From the following verses, please make a list of what we need to know and do to live lovingly towards others.
Luke 6:35, Romans 13:8-10, Romans 12:9-10, Ephesians 4:2-4, Ephesians 5:1-2, Philippians 1:9, Colossians 3:12-15, 1 Peter 4:8-11, and 1 John 4:20-21. According to 1 John 4:9-11, God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear Friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. Isn’t God amazingly wonderful?!!!
We are wrapped in the love of God, who longs for us, takes pleasure in us, and wishes us well. Since God loves us this way, in turn, we wrap others in that same kind of love. Love from the Father to the Son. It keeps passing down from God to the Son to us, to others. This is all stitched together by grace. This is how we live loved, and live lovingly.
