Jesus said: The Father Himself loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God….Think about and practice whatever is lovely, loving, amiable, attractive, beautiful, gracious, kind, peaceable, and winsome. (John 16:27; Philippians 4:8-9, my expanded paraphrase)
An Example of Jesus-like Love
Peter Miller (1710-1796) was a Baptist pastor in Ephrata, Pennsylvania during the American Revolution and friends with General George Washington. Also living in Ephrata was Michael Wittman, who despised the Christian faith, and humiliated Pastor Miller and his congregation. Later, Wittman was wrongly convicted of treason and sentenced to die. On hearing this, Peter Miller did something amazing. He traveled sixty miles on foot to Philadelphia to plead for Wittman.
General Washington listened carefully and said, “I am sorry, Peter. I cannot spare your friend.” The old preacher replied, “Wittman is not my friend! He’s my worst enemy.” Washington said, “What? You walked sixty miles to save your enemy? That puts it in a different light. I’ll grant your request.”
Peter Miller carried the pardon papers to the place where Wittman was going to be executed. He arrived just as Wittman was walking to the gallows. Wittman hollered, “Here comes old Peter Miller, eager for revenge as he watches me hang.” Miller stepped forward and gave the hangman the pardon that spared Wittman’s life. Then Miller and Wittman walked back home to Ephrata together, no longer as enemies, but now as a friends.1 Jesus Himself forgave His enemies and enables us to do the same.
Aspects of Christ-like Love
Philippians 4:8-9 says we are to think about and practice whatever is lovely (or loving). The Greek word here is prosphilē, and it’s the only time it appears in the New Testament. But it’s close to the Greek word verb phileo, the love we have for close friends or relatives. Other English versions translate prosphilē as lovable, friendly, beautiful, not ugly, acceptable, and pleasing. To please Christ his Savior, Peter Miller treated Michael Wittman as if he was his close friend, even though he was not!2
Jesus said the most important commandments are to love our God and to love our neighbor as ourself. He said that everyone will know that we are His disciples, if we love one another. Paul taught that until Jesus returns for us, we must devote ourselves to faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.3
Michael Kelley, an author and church leader, wrote that the word “love” is overused, misused, and diluted in modern America. We “love” travel, music, art, food, entertainment, pets, nature, etc. We are a culture in love with all kinds of stuff. But the “Jesus kind of love” is unique.4
Christian Love Is Sacrificial
Kelley writes that we love things we get a benefit from emotionally, intellectually, or physically. Our love for people and things is often self-centered. As Peter Miller illustrated above, Christ-like love is not selfish, but sacrificial. Instead of taking from others, Christian love gives, serves, helps, and blesses others. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”5
Christian love is top-down, not bottom up. God’s love, not our merit, moves Him to send Christ to obey the Law we have broken, to suffer the punishment we deserve, and to rise from the dead to give us new life. God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us, and that love flows out from us to others. Peter Miller received God’s salvation as God’s free gift. When he remembered Christ’s prior love to him, now he could forgive and help an enemy who wronged him. We must do the same.
Christian Love Is Demonstrated
We talk about love glibly. But words are cheap, easy to give and receive without action to back them up. Yet Michael Kelley reminds us: Christian love is demonstrated. Scripture says: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees someone in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in us? Dear children, let us not love only with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”6
Likewise, Jesus’ half brother James wrote: What good is it if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?…Suppose a person is without clothes and daily food. If you say to them, “Go in peace. Keep warm and well fed,” but do nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.7
James writes about faith expressing itself in loving deeds and agrees with the Apostle Paul on this.8 Who needs our help today, dear reader? Remember Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. Our neighbor is not someone we like, are related to, or choose to be a friend. Our neighbor is the next person we meet who is in need. That’s the big issue. They may be an enemy, a stranger, or a Christian brother or sister. But Jesus commands us to love and serve others.
John Wesley (1703-1791) said:
Do all the good you can, By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can, In all the places you can,
At all the times you can, To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
Christian Love Takes Initiative
Michael Kelley says that people often use love as weapon or a bargaining chip. We sometimes withhold love until we think others “deserve” it. But Christians must not wait for others to show themselves lovable or worthy. Rather we must take the initiative, reach out, and bless others, just as Jesus did for us.
At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly do it. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.9
Putting it into Practice
C. S. Lewis said: Don’t waste time bothering whether you “love” your neighbor. Act as if you did. When you behave as if you loved someone, you will come gradually to love them. If you injure someone you dislike, you will dislike them more. If you do them a good turn, you will find yourself disliking them less.10
Christians are to think about and practice Jesus-like love in sacrificial, demonstrated, initiative-taking ways. God the Holy Spirit enables us to do this so that the world will follow the Jesus whom we claim to follow.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help us to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is Christ’s love. Help us experience Your love that surpasses knowledge, so that we may be filled to the brim with Your fullness. Then help us to love other people in all the ways that You have first loved us, even when they are unlovable. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.11
Notes (various Bible translations): 1 Story heard from Dr. R. Kent Hughes. 2 In the rest of this post, I will not distinguish between the nouns agape and philia. These two words for love often overlap in the Greek New Testament and are sometimes synonyms. Their differences are overemphasized. In the Old Testament, the single Hebrew noun for love is ahavah, and covers multiple kinds of love. 3 Mark 12:29-31 (quoting Deut 6:4-5 and Lev 19:18); John 13:35; 1 Cor 13:13. 4 I am indebted to Michael Kelley’s “3 Unique Characteristics of Christian Love.” 5 1 John 4:10. 6 1 John 3:16-18. 7 James 2:14-17. 8 Gal 5:6. 9 Rom 5:6-8. 10 Mere Christianity (Touchstone edition, 1996, p. 116-117). 11 Prayer based on Eph 3:17-19.