Ephesians 5:2 “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”
Ephesians 5 starts with “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.” Interestingly, this verse follows Ephesians 4:32 which says, “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.” Then following “be imitators of God,” we have our verse that says, “Walk in love as Christ has loved us.” You can see now why I have as my title To Be Like Jesus is to Love (and Forgive) Like Jesus.
When looking at the characteristics that best describe Christians two of the highest descriptions are givers and forgivers. I like that description as it matches how Christ lived. He was a giver as our verse tells us. He loved us so much that He gave Himself as an offering and a sacrifice. He gave His life, dying on a cruel cross, for all humanity.
He gave and He forgave. Today, as a believer your sins have been forgiven. As a reminder of this as well as how it happened notice:
1 John 2:12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for His name’s sake.
Colossians 2:13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace,
The forgiveness came because He died and He died because He loved us – He loved you.
Now let us be very honest with ourselves and acknowledge it is easy to read about loving and forgiving like Jesus, but the reality is this may be the hardest actions (or, shall I say, reactions) we take. People are hard to love. Saints still sin and sometimes they sin against you. How are you going to respond when a fellow saint sins against you? I will let you ponder on that.
As a reminder about loving people, I repeat a statement I have made before that the time a person needs love the most is when they deserve it the least. I also remind you that love does not keep a record of wrongs. (1 Cor. 13:5d NIV)
I also remind you that “forgiveness is the glue that holds all relationships together.” And the standard for extending forgiveness is to forgive as Jesus forgave.
If we are to live and act like Jesus, then we are going to be extending forgiveness. And our forgiveness will be extended because we are loving like Jesus.
Show others Jesus by loving and forgiving them!
Continue Strong living like Him,
And remember to DATE the Word