Love like Jesus

“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:1 (ESV) The apostle Paul’s advice to the Corinthian church is better than any self-help book you’ll ever find. Our goal as believers is to become Christ-like. Have you ever heard someone say, “I just want to love like Jesus loved”? How do you do that exactly? Well, my friend, it begins when the believer is willing to venture from the church building to the streets, applying the Word they received while they sat in a church meeting — taking the Gospel message and closing the gap between them and the unbeliever . . . going from distant to proximity, moving from observer to participant. To love like Jesus means going from judge to helper, willing to get involved in people’s lives. Jesus summed up the entire Bible, with all of its laws and precepts, by communicating this one truth: you must love God and love people. Loving like Jesus means that you enter into conflicts, seeking to make peace, walk in sorrow, willing to speak comfort, and raise hands in time of pain, asking the Lord God of heaven for healing in Jesus’ name. Loving like Jesus is the willingness to go to the highways and byways, taking our biblical position as salt and light to a dark world. “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27). — Mark Little Elk   Council Fire is a collaboration with Intertribal Life Ministries and Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. The Council Fire Daily Devotional Book Set is available on the Intertribal Life Ministries website. Learn more about Council Fire at councilfire365.org