Love Like Jesus

February 9, 2023

Scripture explains in Galatians 5:6: “If you are a follower of Christ Jesus . . . all that matters is your faith that makes you love others” (CEV). 

God is not impressed by how many times we picked up our Bible this week if we were rude to everyone around us, put ourselves first and didn’t love the people he placed in our path. In fact, if we do anything “good” without love, God says it’s worthless.

The sad truth is, there are a lot of religious people who claim to be Christians who are some of the most unloving people we know.

But, the true mark of a Christian isn’t religious perfection (or more like the appearance of perfection)… it’s love.

Love toward the hurting.

Love toward the broken.

Love toward people who think differently.

Love toward people who vote differently.

Even love toward people who attack you.

Today we’re going to look at the most famous chapter in the Bible on love, 1 Corinthians 13.

In the first few verses of this passage, the apostle Paul gives some examples of things most people would deem as “good” or “noble,” but without love, these things don’t matter.  

1. If you don’t live a life of love, then nothing you say will matter.

“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1 NLT). 

We’re really impressed by great speakers. If someone says something in a unique and interesting way, it grabs our attention. But God says, “I don’t care how good of a communicator you are. Are you living a life of love?” If you’re not, then nothing you say will matter.

Words without love are just noise. Even speaking the truth without love is just a clanging symbol.

2. If you don’t live a life of love, nothing you know will matter.

“I may have the gift of prophecy. I may understand all the secret things of God and have all knowledge . . . But even with all these things, if I do not have love, then I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2 NCV).

We live in a world where knowledge is exploding. We’ve advanced in so many ways. We are smarter than we’ve ever been. But even in 2021, in this advanced culture, we still have the same problems: crime, abuse, prejudice, violence.

Why? Because the world doesn’t need more knowledge. It needs more love. You may be a genius. But God says if you don’t have love in your life, all that you know is worthless.

3. If you don’t live a life of love, nothing you believe will matter.

The Bible says, “Even if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, I would still be worth nothing at all without love” (1 Corinthians 13:2b TLB).

There’s a myth that being a follower of Christ is just a matter of believing certain truths. Nothing can be further from the truth! Following Christ is about living a life of love.

It takes more than belief to please God.

4. If you don’t live a life of love, nothing you give will matter.

The next verse says, “If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3 NLT).

Love isn’t always the motivation for giving. Some people give just to get back or out of guilt or for control or prestige. You can give for a lot of wrong motives, but the Bible says if you’re not doing it out of love, none of your giving counts to God.

Bottom line: following Christ is about living a life of love.

What are some ways you can show love to someone you find hard to love? I encourage you to ask God to help you see that person with his eyes so that you can show him or her God’s love this week.