January 11 - Become Like Jesus, Strengthen Relationships (Part 2)
“Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.” (Luke 2:52)
Jesus - “Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples.” (John 13:34-35)
Devotional Thought: Would you say that it’s been difficult at times for you to love others? And would you say it’s probably been difficult at times for the Lord to love you? Aren’t you glad that the Lord has loved you in such a compassionate, forgiving and gracious way?
So, what steps can we take to love others like the Lord has loved us? We learned yesterday that we need to “accept others like the Lord has accepted us.” And we need to “value others like the Lord values us.” What are some other steps we need to take?
We also have to forgive others like the Lord has forgiven us. Many Christians struggle a lot with unforgiveness. Unforgiveness is a willful choice to hold on to hurt, anger, and hostility. Have you ever done that? We all have. But Jesus said in Luke 6:37: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will come back upon you. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” Jesus said we won’t have God’s forgiveness, freedom and fulfillment until we’re willing to forgive those who have hurt and harmed us.
Forgiving others is a difficult thing to do. But we should be willing to forgive others because of how much the Lord has forgiven us (Colossians 3:13). We should also be willing to forgive others because we will need to experience more of God’s grace in our lives in the days ahead. Jesus said in the Model prayer that we are to pray for “God to forgive us in the way we forgive others” (Matthew 6:12). And since we need God’s forgiveness today and in the future, we need to forgive others. And then we need to forgive others because that’s the pathway to reconciliation with others.
So to love others like Jesus has loved us, we have to be willing to forgive others, and we need to really believe in others like the Lord has believed in us. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:7, “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” Jesus constantly affirmed the people around Him – because He saw not just what they were, but what they could become. And He wants us to do the same with other people. Which reminds us that we need to focus our lives not on pointing out other people’s flaws and faults, but on affirming who they can become as they surrender their lives to the Lord.
Prayer Focus: Lord, I want to love others like You’ve loved me; so help me in the coming days to forgive others like You’ve forgiven me, and to believe in others like You’ve believed in Me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Follow-Up Activity: Identify some people that you need to forgive, and then in a prayer forgive them like the Lord has forgiven you. And identify some people that you need to affirm, and take some steps to affirm them by the end of the day.
