Unshakable Truth: Imitate God’s Love

Imagine visiting the church in Ephesus with Apostle Paul in the first century. The Ephesians needed a reminder to imitate God, not the world, especially when seeking to love others. Here’s some unshakeable truths from Paul’s visit to the Ephesians that is still relevant today.

Paul writes, “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:1-2). He urges us to follow God’s example and imitate Him, as Paul did by loving others like Christ. Christ’s sacrificial love should inspire us to love others with the same zeal.

To understand how to love like Jesus, we must first grasp the Father’s love by doing three critical things as God’s dearly beloved children:

1. Studying His Word (the Bible).

2. Communicating with God through prayer.

3. Listening to Godly preaching and teaching.

We know God is full of love because we know His track record. Only the world questions God’s love because they measure it by whether God does what they want Him to do and when they want Him to do it. As the body of Christ, on the other hand, we know God loves us in spite of our circumstances because God is loving all the time. Psalm 34:8, “Oh taste and see that the Lord is God is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.”

Because we know God is loving we can mimic his loving nature. Mimicking the way God loves us, empowers us to love people. We can love others even when they are not so loving to us because we understand they are just broken people entrenched in the world’s wicked ways.

Here are three unshakable truths to help us demonstrate God’s love to others every day:

Unshakable Truth: Imitate God’s Love #1:

Following God requires us to have the dedication to know Him, the courage to trust Him, and the commitment to be like Him. Paul instructs us to walk in the way of love. The believer’s love walk is the witness that demonstrates our commitment to Christ and becomes a continual testimony that Christ lives inside us.

Unshakable Truth: Imitate God’s Love #2:

Jesus modeled God’s love by laying down His love for us. He knew our sinful nature was given to us by Adam but stepped in to change sin’s curse passed down from generation to generation. Since Christ loved us, we can love others. When we model Jesus’ agape — unconditional — love, we put others interests above our own and our love walk becomes a continual fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Unshakable Truth: Imitate God’s Love #3:

Christ died to save us because we meant more to Him than Himself. Sinless and selfless, Jesus paid the price to reconcile us with God, showing His commitment and love by willingly enduring the cross. Talking about Jesus, Apostle John says in John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

Three Takeaways:

1. God offers the best example of how to live and love others.

2. A love offering becomes a sacrifice when we put others’ needs first, as Christ did.

3. As believers, we should live for God in a world that lives for self.

Bottom Line:

This week, let’s strive to love others as God loves us. When we do, the Lord promises to bless us, guaranteeing us eternal life and lasting treasures as we emulate God’s love and Jesus’ selfless act of loving others.

Want to dive deeper? Check out Minister Corbin's message, Imitate God, Not the World, below.