Just Like Me

February 20, 2019

“As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34

Throughout my life, the things I have learned most deeply and thoroughly, I learned by example. I can make a pretty good pie from watching my mother. In fact, I now have her rolling pin. It’s the one she got when she was married almost 69 years ago to my father. I would love to know how many incredible apple pies took shape under her hands and that instrument. I watched her flour the cutting board, make swift, light rolls with the pin, and pinch up the rim of the circles she made so many times. It became second nature to me. I don’t remember a single lesson that was handled as a teaching experience. She just did it, and I imitated her.

That’s why Jesus didn’t have to go into details with the disciples when He told them, “As I have loved you.” Many of us conclude He was talking about being willing to die for people as He was going to do. No, He was talking about LIVING for them; living with the same kind of sacrificing, inconvenient love He shared. They understood this. They observed His unselfishness, His truth-telling in love, His understanding every single day. They were the recipients of it. They saw how He loved His mother, His brothers. They witnessed His compassion and second- and third-mile living. They received His equal love on the days they didn’t deserve it and on the days they were a little more loveable. They saw how He believed in them and brought out the best in them. Simply, nothing was hidden from them. They actually LIVED together in challenging circumstances, and He loved them consistently and practically all the way through it.

When He said to love as He had loved them, they had no confusion. It was not a suggestion or a desire that they would be elegant and mysterious. They knew it was a clarion call to love in the most demanding and daily ways.

How has Jesus loved you? How do you believe He expects you to translate that into your own love for the world around you?

  • Jesus’ kind of love is daily and demanding. Are you struggling with a particular demand or person? If so, talk to the Lord about that.
  • Ask God to help you remember that He loves you completely, and is the power within you to love when it is difficult.
  • Spend a little time thanking Him for the practical ways He is loving you right now.