Loved to Love

Jesus said, 'Love one another as I have loved you.' That little word *as* changes everything. He's not asking for generic kindness or polite tolerance. He's calling us to love the way He loved — sacrificially, costly, without condition.

How did Jesus love? He left heaven. He took on flesh. He served. He washed feet. He bore insults. He died. And He did it all for people who didn't deserve it, who couldn't earn it, who often didn't even want it.

That's the love He calls us to. Not the love that gives when it's convenient, but the love that gives when it's costly. Not the love that serves when it feels good, but the love that serves when it's hard. Not the love that forgives once, but the love that forgives seventy times seven.

This kind of love is impossible on our own. We don't have it in us. But here's the good news: we've been loved this way. We've received what we didn't deserve. We've been forgiven when we didn't earn it. We've been adopted when we were enemies.

And now, filled with that love, we're called to pour it out. To love the difficult person. To serve the ungrateful one. To forgive the repeat offender. Because that's what Jesus did for us.