Showing the world that we love like Jesus shows them that we are loved by God.   #theloriclineshow   Interested in learning more about becoming a devoted follower of Christ? Go to follow.lifeword.org!   ~~~ How do YOU see Jesus?  Do you see a holy man, guru or prophet? Maybe you see him as a radical faith figure who started a movement that ended with his death? Do you see him only in a manger at Christmas? Maybe you see him on a gold cross around your neck and accept that his death meant something, but did it really mean everything?  I know people see Jesus in many different ways. To me, He IS my savior, the promised son of God. HE is the beginning and the end. He IS the atoning sacrifice for my sins and the ONLY way, the truth and the life. He is the resurrected messiah, prophesied about in the Old Testament, the ONE who defeated sin and death and the one who sits at the right hand of the Father even now, waiting for the time He will return for His bride. He is with me always and He loves me.  That’s the core of who Jesus IS to me. He is so much more, but I know even if you don’t see Jesus the way I do, wouldn’t you probably still say that Jesus IS love? That seems to be the common denominator. Jesus IS love. He loved sinners. He loves you and He loves me. Jesus preached about loving our enemy and loving our neighbor. He loved well and calls us to do the same and we quote it regularly, but do we really know what LOVING like Jesus looks like? I’ll tell you what it’s not, it’s not a touchy feely gospel of good vibes and sunshine. When Jesus talks about love, it always requires sacrifice and surrender.  He lays it out for us.  John 15:9-14 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. The life of Jesus was a full display of sacrificial LOVE. He loved to display the love of the Father. God is love and Jesus was that love sent to earth in flesh to make a way for you and me to be reconciled to the Father.  When we remain in that love, we can’t help but love others. It compels us to do so because we realize we don’t deserve it! When you are loved so perfectly, even in the midst of sin, rebellion and shame, it leads you to repentance and a desire to STAY IN that love. That’s abiding in the love of Jesus. It’s obedience to the Father. So when we obey like Jesus, we LOVE like Jesus. They go hand in hand and the beautiful result of a life lived like Jesus is complete JOY, not some empty promise the world will never deliver. Love God and Love others like Jesus.  1 John 4:7-12 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. When you love like Jesus you show the world that you know you are loved by God. You get it and you want to give it away and obedience naturally follows. You want to know His way. You desire to take up your cross and follow. That’s how Jesus loved me and it’s how we can love like Jesus.  That’s the truth.  It’s a perfect love and the resulting ripple effect on the world around us continues to put on full display the truth that is the common denominator from Genesis to Revelation, God SO loves the world. I hope you know that love today. You can discover even more about it at LIFEWORD.org.  I’m Lori Cline.