“Go And Love Them”

“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end — to the uttermost.” John 13:1 NKJV

When the Lord sent us to plant the church, we prayed for a strategy for winning people to Christ. I was expecting a detailed, mysterious, or rather complicated plan to shake the city for Jesus. The Lord shocked me when He said: there is no new strategy — just “go and love them.” It was unambiguous, and the simplicity was glaring. Why? The human spirit responds to love better than condemnation, judgment, and fear.

The Lord Jesus is giving us the same instruction the Father gave Him to change the world. He lived among the people with an unmistakable mark of pure love for humanity. He did not come to use us, manipulate us, or make money out of us. He came to reveal the love the Father has even for the worst of sinners like us.

The love of God transforms. If you want to change people’s lives, do not use condemnation, name-calling, shaming, and judgment. People who use these may achieve behaviour modification that lasts only for a short while. If you want to achieve long-lasting heart transformation — which the Lord Jesus came to accomplish — deploy the arsenal of love.

You can hate the sin and love the sinner. You can spend time with a “tax collector” and not condone their lifestyle. Loving people does not mean compromising your principles; it means giving people room to grow. It means not writing them off in their moment of weakness. Love empowers people to rise above their struggles and come into freedom.

God wants us to love one another as Christ loved us. He did not love us because we were good people; He loved us because we were human, created in the image of God. He dignified us in our brokenness. He did not embarrass us in our sin. He loved us to the last degree, demonstrated by His ascent to His glorious death on Mount Calvary.

Let your words be full of love. May your actions be motivated by love. Serve from love, give from love, and sacrifice from love. Love is the nature of God, and every Christian must overflow with God’s love for the brethren, because you are a partaker of the divine nature. Keep growing in your love walk. The entire Christian faith is rendered worthless when love is absent. As the world sees the love of God in our eyes, they will not deny Jesus.

Prayer

Father, fill my heart with the love of God. I refuse to harbour hatred, bitterness, and rancour. I will speak with love, act with love, and live a love-filled life — in Jesus’ Name, Amen.