Jesus didn’t define love by emotion alone. He showed us a love that serves, sacrifices, speaks truth, and seeks another person’s good, even when doing so costs us something.
YOUR FAITH FOCUS
Before you read, consider this…
It is easy to say we love someone when the relationship is comfortable, and the affection is mutual. But what happens to our love when another person becomes difficult, disappointing, inconvenient, or costly? The clearest measure of our love is revealed precisely when loving someone asks something of us.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” — John 13:34 (NIV)
Love is easy to admire when it is expressed beautifully. It is harder to practice when someone disappoints us, interrupts our plans, needs more patience than we expected, or cannot give us anything in return.
Jesus did not merely speak about love. He gave His disciples a standard they could see: “As I have loved you.” That changes the question from “Do I feel loving?” to “Does the way I treat this person resemble Christ?”
Love Has a Face
John 13 places Jesus’ command in a remarkable setting. Earlier that evening, He washed His disciples’ feet. He served men who would soon scatter, fail Him, and, in Judas’ case, betray Him. Christlike love was not sentimental affection. It took the posture of a servant.
Jesus explained His mission plainly: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45, NIV). His love moved toward people and sought their good.
That matters because we can sincerely care about someone while still allowing convenience to govern our actions. We love our spouse, children, friends, church family, and coworkers, yet become impatient when loving them requires listening, sacrificing time, forgiving an interruption, or setting aside our preferences.
Jesus invites us beyond affectionate intentions. Love becomes visible when another person’s good matters enough to cost us something.
Love Does Not Keep Score
Sacrificial love does not mean becoming passive, ignoring harmful behavior, or saying yes to every request. Jesus loved perfectly, yet He also spoke truth, confronted sin, withdrew to pray, and refused to be controlled by people’s expectations.
Biblical love has strength in it. Paul wrote that love “is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13:5, NIV). That description reaches into ordinary relationships where scorekeeping quietly grows.
We remember who apologized last, who called first, who failed to help, who received more than they gave. Before long, love can become a transaction: I will give when you deserve it.
But God’s love toward us began somewhere entirely different. Romans 5:8 says, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (NIV). Grace moved first.
This does not require pretending wounds do not matter. It means our model for love is not another person’s performance. It is Jesus.
The Small Places Where Love Costs
Most of us will not be asked to demonstrate love through one dramatic sacrifice today. More likely, Christlike love will appear in a dozen small decisions no one applauds.
It may mean listening without preparing your rebuttal, calling someone who is lonely, giving your full attention when you would rather look at your phone, speaking truth kindly instead of avoiding an uncomfortable conversation, and helping without announcing it.
Philippians 2:4 instructs believers, “not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (NIV). Paul was pointing the church toward the mindset of Christ, not asking Christians to neglect legitimate responsibilities.
This is where September’s EXCEL2FAITH Christ-Centered Relationship Framework begins: LOVE LIKE JESUS. The framework describes this as choosing compassion that puts others before self. Throughout this month, the framework is available as a free download to help you examine an important relationship and take one faithful step.
The question is not whether you can love everyone perfectly. You cannot. The better question is whether the Holy Spirit is making Jesus’ love increasingly visible through you.
Let Love Become Visible
Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35, NIV). Notice what He made visible to the world: not merely what His followers believed, but how their belief changed the way they treated people.
That brings us back to our September question: If someone examined the way you treat the people closest to you, would they see Jesus?
Do not answer too quickly. Think about one relationship. Where has convenience replaced compassion? Where have you been waiting for the other person to make the first move? Where might love require your time, attention, humility, generosity, or courage?
This week, choose one intentional act that seeks that person’s good. Do it quietly, sincerely, and without demanding anything in return. Then use the free EXCEL2FAITH Christ-Centered Relationship Framework and its Relationship Check-In to continue the conversation with God.
Lord Jesus, teach me to love as You have loved me. Give me the humility and courage to make Your love visible in the relationships You have entrusted to me. Amen.
YOUR 2-MINUTE FAITH CHALLENGE
LOVE IN ACTION
Jesus said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” — John 13:34 (NIV)
Complete these five statements using the words below. One word will not be used.
serve • feelings • good • score • visible • deserve
Christlike love moves beyond __________ into action.
Jesus demonstrated love by choosing to __________ others.
Biblical love intentionally seeks another person’s __________.
Love becomes transactional when we begin keeping __________.
The way we treat others can make the love of Jesus __________.
BONUS CHALLENGE:
Without looking back, can you complete this month’s question?
“If someone examined the way I __________ the people __________ to me, would they see __________?”
Now make it personal:
Think of one person God has placed in your life. What is one loving action you can take for that person this week without expecting anything in return?
Answers: 1. feelings 2. serve 3. good 4. score 5. visible
Bonus: treat • closest • Jesus
Crazy Love
We have previously reviewed and recommended Francis Chan’s Crazy Love, but it deserves another look because its message connects so naturally with “Loving Like Jesus: When Love Becomes More Than a Feeling.”
Chan begins with a truth Christians know well but can easily become too familiar with: God loves us with an extraordinary, relentless love. Yet Crazy Love refuses to let that truth remain comfortable theology. Chan challenges readers to consider whether experiencing God’s love is actually changing how they live.
That is where the book meets this week’s message. Loving like Jesus is more than feeling affection or saying the right words. Christlike love becomes visible through sacrifice, generosity, service, obedience, and a willingness to seek another person’s good even when it costs us something.
Chan writes with an urgency that challenges comfortable Christianity without losing sight of grace. His central invitation is not simply to work harder for God, but to become so captivated by God’s love that wholehearted devotion becomes our response.
If this week’s article has you asking whether others can actually see Jesus in the way you love, Crazy Love will take that reflection deeper.
Purchase Crazy Love by Francis Chan and allow its message to challenge your walk with Christ. Then subscribe to The EXCEL2FAITH Newsletter for weekly biblical encouragement and practical spiritual growth.
Heavenly Father, teach me to love as Jesus loves, not only with words and feelings, but through compassion, humility, sacrifice, and actions that genuinely seek the good of others. Search my heart and remove the pride, impatience, resentment, and selfishness that keep Your love from being fully visible through me. Draw me closer to You in prayer each day, because I know I cannot love like Christ unless I remain close to Christ and allow Your Spirit to transform my heart. Lord, deepen my relationship with You until the people You have placed in my life can see more of Jesus in the way I listen, serve, forgive, speak, and love.
Amen.
