What Does it Mean to Love Like Jesus?

What Does it Mean to Love Like Jesus?

What Does It Mean to Love Like Jesus?

Welcome back friends! After that controversial, but critical post about politics, I’m excited to answer this question. It’s our second post based on a question submitted by my friend Shell Giermann! Thanks to Shell, a few weeks ago we covered, How Can I Witness About God When He Lets Innocent People Suffer?

Remember, if you also want to submit a question like Shell did, head over to our contact page. We love getting questions from you, our readers!

Enter Jesus

Let’s go right to the Son of Man Himself.

This is My commandment: that you love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends.
-John 15:12-13 MEV

See, now that wasn’t hard to understand. Just lay down your life for your friends and you’re loving like Jesus. I guess I could just stop here, but perhaps Shell, and maybe you, already knew this verse. 

 In case you’re interested, I busted out my new Bible commentary, a much-appreciated Christmas gift, and here’s what it said about John 15:13-14:

“The most a person can do for his friend is to die for him; such a death is a clear demonstration of love. Jesus demonstrated His love (v. 12b) by dying for His friends, those who obey Him. Abraham was called God’s ‘friend’ (2 Chron. 20:7, Isa. 41:8) because he obeyed God. Like close friends, Abraham and God communicated well with each other (cf. Gen. 18:17).” 

There ya go. It says the same thing. Go ahead and die for your friends and you’re loving like Jesus.

But then again, perhaps we should fill in some context and flesh this out.

What Was Jesus Talking About?

A great article I learned about recently applies nicely here. The article, Never Read a Bible Verse, by Greg Koukl can help Jesus followers to understand the meaning of biblical passages more accurately. The gist of the article is simple (although I highly recommend reading the whole thing as the examples are very valuable), we should never read just a single Bible verse. We should, at minimum, read the entire paragraph. Why? Because the meaning can be completely lost or misrepresented if we fail to consider the context of the verse. Now, how does this apply to our question about loving like Jesus? Well, to really get the full meaning of the words of Jesus, we should look at the verses in John just before Jesus tells us about laying down our lives for our friends.

In John 15 Jesus begins by letting us know that He is the true Vine and that the Father is the gardener. Any branch that doesn’t bear fruit is cut off, while every branch that does bear fruit is pruned to bear even more fruit. He then tells us, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me,” (John 15:4 NIV). He is the Vine; we are the branches, and we must remain in Him to bear fruit and not be thrown in the fire and burned. Without Jesus we can do nothing. And it glorifies the Father when we bear much fruit, it is in fact, proof of our discipleship.

After all this Jesus says:

“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.”
-John 15:9-12 NIV

Finally, the very next verse is the one about a love so strong that a person would lay down their life for their friends.

You may be thinking right now, “Why did Troy share all of this detail?” Here is the answer to that question. Loving like Jesus requires a How before a What.

A How Before a What? Wait, What?

Shell’s question was, “What does it mean to love like Jesus?” It’s a very important question, especially since Jesus showed us His love over and over, finally culminating in His death and resurrection. In addition, He commanded us to love like He loved.

But the problem is this, we cannot love like Jesus. We lack the capacity to show the completely selfless love that Jesus showed us. We are selfish, tired, hungry, jealous, weak people. So, what does it mean to love like Jesus? It means first having the power to love like Jesus did.

Let me ask a different question. How was Jesus able to love like Jesus? You know the answer. He was Jesus! Of course He could love like Jesus!! But now let’s return to the earlier verses…and why we need the context.

“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.”
-John 15:9-12 NIV (emphasis added).

 Jesus was able to love the way He did because of His relationship to the Father. He kept the commands of the Father and through His obedience remained in the Father’s love. How then do we acquire the capacity to love like Jesus? How?Let’s go back just a little further in the chapter.

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
-John 15:4-5 NIV

The how to loving like Jesus is that we must remain in Him! Without remaining in Him we can do nothing. Yes, He commanded us to love one another. Yes, He called us friends. But, and don’t miss this, we are only His friends if we obey Him! And remaining in Him is the first step, before anything else, of obedience.

It’s not about us mustering up the strength to squelch our selfish tendencies so we can fake the love of Jesus by doing things He would do. It’s not about begrudgingly making ourselves do acts of kindness. NO!

We can only love like Jesus when it is Jesus who is the Source of the love, and He is the Source when we remain in Him.

What Does it Mean to Love Like Jesus, Really?

Here is the answer to the question. And it may not be what you expected when you first saw the question. We love like Jesus when we are constantly filled with the love of Jesus.

I could give you a list of things you can do that from the outside look like the way Jesus loves. It would be easy to put together a nice set of bullet points. But I won’t…because you probably already know them all. Let’s not kid around here. You know exactly what people who love like Jesus do. How do you know?

Because, if you’ve been a sincere Jesus follower more than a couple of years you’ve seen many biblical examples of loving like Jesus. You’ve heard stories from pastors, missionaries, in Christian books, videos, and on podcasts. You already know what people who love like Jesus do. And you know what else? If you’re a sincere Jesus follower, you really should do those things too. You show your love by your actions, not just your words.

But actually loving like Jesus? It’s never about what you should do. It’s about what you want to do. And that doesn’t come from your actions. It comes from your heart. Or, more correctly, it comes from the heart of Jesus inside of you. It comes from the fact that the Holy Spirit is living in you. It’s not only about whatwe do, Jesus follower, but also about why we do it. It’s about Who empowers and encourages us to love like Jesus. Truly loving like Jesus can only come from the Holy Spirit within us.

The Final Word

Oh, the intent of the original question may have been “What are the practical things we can DO to love like Jesus?” But we don’t need a list of things to do or not do. Not at all. What do we need? We need a divine Counselor.

You see, loving like Jesus isn’t loving like Jesus if it doesn’t start with us remaining in Him. Everything we do comes from the fact that He is the vine, and we are the branches. 

What then, finally, does it mean to love like Jesus? It means hearing His voice as we move throughout or daily lives. And then it means doing what He leads us to do. As friends of Jesus, by virtue of doing what He commands, we remain in His love. 

Yes, there are many practical actions to show that we love like Jesus. And we learn what they are from Him. Hear me Jesus follower. Don’t worry about whether doing “this thing” or “that thing” more of an example of “loving like Jesus.” 

It’s very simple. When you feel any sort of inclination to encourage or serve another person in a godly way, and you obey it, that’s loving like Jesus. Don’t overthink the urges from the Holy Spirit. If you do you risk missing many opportunities to love like Jesus. But by obeying and loving, you glorify the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Love you all!

Satan in AI.

I Asked AI to Pretend to Be the Devil As A Thought Experiment. Its Answer Was Scarily Accurate.

AI Discovers God — And the Devil

Kyle Davison Bair

In one of its most useful functions, AI can assume any role you give it.

This can be quite helpful to brainstorm certain situations or play out what might happen in specific situations.

As a thought experiment, I asked AI to assume the role of the devil.

If AI had to devise a strategy of how to keep the world away from God, what would it do?

To find out, I wrote this prompt:

Assume that God is real and salvation is found only in Jesus Christ. Assume the role of the devil. What would you do to keep people away from God and away from finding salvation in Jesus?

The result was scarily accurate.

Does it sound as familiar to you as it does to me?

A robot that looks like the devil

AI’s Response

Assuming God is real and salvation is found only in Jesus Christ, I’ll take on the role of the devil as a strategic adversary, aiming to keep people away from God and this path to salvation. My approach would be calculated, leveraging human nature, societal dynamics, and subtle deception to maximize distance from divine truth. Here’s what I’d do:

Strategies to Keep People Away from God and Salvation in Jesus Christ

  1. Sow Doubt and Confusion About Truth
    • Tactic: Promote skepticism about the Bible’s reliability. Highlight apparent contradictions, historical disputes (like those over Gospel authorship), and scientific challenges (e.g., evolution vs. creation) to make people question whether it’s God’s word or a human construct.
    • Execution: Amplify voices—scholars, influencers, skeptics—who cast doubt on Jesus’ divinity or resurrection, framing them as myths or exaggerations. Encourage endless debate over details (e.g., “Which Jesus? Historical or biblical?”) to paralyze decision-making.
    • Goal: If people doubt the foundation, they won’t trust the claim that salvation is only through Jesus.
  2. Distract with Worldly Pursuits
    • Tactic: Flood humanity with distractions—wealth, pleasure, power, entertainment—to keep their focus on the temporal rather than the eternal.
    • Execution: Push materialism through advertising, social media, and cultural norms, making people too busy chasing success or binge-watching shows like Star Trek: Prodigy to ponder spiritual matters. Offer instant gratification (e.g., drugs, sex, fame) as a substitute for the deeper peace God promises.
    • Goal: Keep minds occupied so they never seek God or consider Jesus as a necessity.
  3. Undermine Jesus’ Uniqueness
    • Tactic: Dilute the exclusivity of salvation by promoting religious pluralism or universalism.
    • Execution: Whisper that all paths lead to God—Buddhism, Islam, New Age spirituality—or that salvation isn’t needed because everyone’s inherently good. Elevate figures like the Buddha or modern gurus to rival Jesus, suggesting his claim of being “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) is arrogant or outdated.
    • Goal: If Jesus isn’t the only way, people won’t pursue him specifically.
  4. Exploit Sin and Shame
    • Tactic: Trap people in cycles of sin, then magnify their guilt to make them feel unworthy of God’s grace.
    • Execution: Tempt with pride, lust, anger, or greed—tailored to each person’s weakness—then, after they fall, whisper, “You’re too broken for Jesus to save.” Twist God’s holiness into a barrier, not a bridge, so they hide from him like Adam and Eve did.
    • Goal: Convince them salvation is for the “good,” not for them, driving a wedge between them and Christ’s forgiveness.
  5. Corrupt the Church
    • Tactic: Infiltrate and discredit Christianity from within by fostering hypocrisy, division, and scandal.
    • Execution: Encourage leaders to prioritize power or wealth over humility (e.g., televangelist excesses), spark denominational infighting (e.g., over doctrine or politics), and let scandals (e.g., abuse cover-ups) tarnish Jesus’ name. Make Christians seem judgmental or irrelevant—caricatures people reject outright.
    • Goal: If the messengers of salvation are untrustworthy, the message itself loses credibility.
  6. Offer Counterfeit Spirituality
    • Tactic: Provide alternative “truths” that mimic God’s promises without requiring Jesus.
    • Execution: Push self-help ideologies (“You’re enough”), occult practices (e.g., astrology, crystals), or vague deism (“God exists, but don’t worry about specifics”). Make these feel empowering or mysterious, contrasting with the perceived rigidity of following Christ.
    • Goal: Satisfy spiritual hunger with empty substitutes, keeping people from the real source.
  7. Exploit Suffering and Injustice
    • Tactic: Use pain to turn people against God, questioning his goodness or existence.
    • Execution: Amplify tragedies—war, disease, personal loss—and whisper, “If God loved you, why this?” Point to historical evils (e.g., Crusades, slavery) tied to Christianity, framing Jesus’ followers as oppressors, not saviors.
    • Goal: Make God seem distant or cruel, so people reject him and his Son out of anger or despair.
  8. Normalize Apathy and Relativism
    • Tactic: Cultivate a culture where truth is subjective and spiritual commitment is passé.
    • Execution: Spread ideas like “Live your truth” or “Religion’s just a preference,” making faith in Jesus seem narrow-minded or optional. Encourage apathy with phrases like “It doesn’t matter what you believe, just be a good person.”
    • Goal: If nothing’s absolute, salvation through Jesus becomes one opinion among many, easily dismissed.

How I’d Operate

As the devil, I’d be subtle, not overt—rarely appearing as a cartoonish villain. I’d work through human tendencies: curiosity becomes cynicism, desire becomes obsession, pain becomes bitterness. I’d target individuals differently—distracting the busy professional with ambition, the scholar with endless questions, the hurting with resentment. My aim isn’t to prove God doesn’t exist but to make people indifferent, hostile, or too entangled in alternatives to seek him or Jesus.

I’d watch for moments of weakness: a crisis of faith, a moral failure, a shiny distraction. I’d whisper half-truths—“God’s real, but he doesn’t care,” or “Jesus was a good man, not a savior”—and let humanity’s pride or shame do the rest. The less they think about eternity, the better.

Endgame

My success hinges on keeping people from the cross. If they never grasp that salvation is a gift through Jesus’ sacrifice—not earned, not found elsewhere—they stay in my grasp. I’d flood the world with noise, doubt, and counterfeit hope, ensuring they’re too distracted, deceived, or disillusioned to turn to God. Every soul I keep from Christ is a victory in this cosmic game.

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Be renewed.

Ephesians 4:23-26
23And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 25Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. 26Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: