The Love of Jesus Christ-The Greatest Love of All

Christian love is impossible to grasp and live out without a clear understanding of the love of Jesus Christ. The greatest story ever told isn’t just about miracles and teachings, it’s about the love and compassion of Jesus that can affect your daily life. His love is limitless and transformative; how will it shape yours?

The love of Jesus Christ- graphic of 3 larger red hearts lying on smaller pink and red cut out heart

What was God’s motivation for creating us? He lacked nothing; He was complete within himself.

 God made us to communicate and be in close relationship.

By nature, God is love and His pure love naturally wants to give of itself. His love is unselfishly loyal and shows itself in his Fatherly concern for us.

The apostle John reminds us:

“So we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God and God abides in him.” 1 John 4:16.

He created us in love, judges us in love, and disciplines us in love. He even granted free will out of love. God loves us even if we reject Him! 

Our nature is “hard-wired” to want a relationship with God. We are not, however, created with a belief in God.

That is a choice, freely given out of the purity of His love. God considers us valuable and worthy.

He showers us with mercy and grace. He loves us because it is His nature.

We disappoint Him every day and His enduring love for us remains the same. It’s hard to understand how God could love us so.

Understanding Jesus’ Love

These two Bible verses give us a foundation for understanding:

God showed His great love by giving us the gift of Jesus. We can gloss over this verse because we have heard it so often, but it sums up the entire Gospel message.

 It is the ultimate proof of His love and compassion- “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16.

God’s steadfast love also shows His love and concern for us-

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8.

“While we were still sinners”- these are amazing words. The Son of God came to die for us, not because we were good enough, but just because He loved us. 

If you ever feel uncertain about God’s love for you, remember that He loved you even before you turned to Him. Even if you were the only human on earth, Jesus still would have endured the cross for you! When God made the promise to rescue us from sin, there were only 2 people on the earth.

Think about that. Picture yourself in front of the cross, watching Him pour out His life for YOU. That’s how much He loves you. You are immensely valuable to Him and He wants you to live forever with Him.

“God bought you with a high price.” 1 Corinthians 6:20.

Characteristics of Jesus’ Love

Here are 3 key characteristics to help us understand such love:

Unconditional: His love does not depend on what we do or don’t do. It is a covenant, an unbreakable promise that supersedes our sins and failures. Nothing, nothing at all, can separate us from this eternal love of Jesus! What a comfort!

“Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39.

Sacrificial: How often do we think of the enormous price our faithful God had to pay to sacrifice His own Son? 

He dearly loved Jesus, but because He loves us, He willingly sacrificed Him for all humanity- even the most sinful and unworthy. No human parent could give up their child’s life in the same manner.

Jesus loves us enough to accept our punishment and pay the price for our sin. We can be holy and blameless before God if we accept His sacrifice on our behalf.

He showed us sacrificial love- “the full extent of His love” (John 13:1)- a kind of love that has no limits– on the cross. True love means you will give up your own life for the ones you love, and He showed us this love in action.

Everlasting: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3.

Jesus’ love stretches from an eternal past and continues on into eternity. God is in love with you; always has been, always will be.

the love of Jesus Christ- AI image of Jesus, smiling, holding a small child
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The Compassion of Jesus in Action

The Bible shares many example of Jesus Christ sharing His love. He not only felt compassion; He acted on it.

Healing the sick- Jesus loved with His compassionate heart.

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” Matthew 14:14.

While the religious leaders considered the sick and disabled as cursed by God, Jesus felt only love and compassion for those who were ill. 

Feeding the hungry- Jesus miraculously feeds the 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish (Matthew 14:13-21) and, separately, another 4,000 (Matthew 15:29-39). He showed his love and care by providing for the people’s physical needs. 

Comforts the brokenhearted- This was part of God’s plan from the beginning: “He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted.” Luke 4:18 NKJV. 

Psalm 34:18 tells us, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Jesus wept with and comforted His friends Mary and Martha after their brother Lazarus died. (John11:17-35.)

Whether disappointment has let you down, you are grieving a death, or you have just received a frightening diagnosis, Jesus comes to be near you and heals your heart.

His faithful love is a true relational love in its purest form, not some abstract concept. When we are hurting, He hurts with us. When we are afraid, sad, or discouraged, He is at our side to protect, comfort, and guide.

Adopts a servant attitude- The Lord Jesus Christ washed His disciples’ feet right before the feast of the Passover. John records this story in Chapter 13:1-17

Jesus showed His disciples how to love by adopting a servant attitude. If Messiah did the work of the lowliest servant, we must do the same for others.

If we are going to love others as Christ loves us, then it must cost us something. What a powerful testimony to Jesus when we love this way.

Receiving God’s Love and Compassion

Barriers to Receiving- 

Some common struggles like guilt, shame, or feeling unworthy are negative emotions that can be roadblocks to receive all His love offers. 

We sometimes rehash and dig up the past. If we can’t let the past lie, we’re saying what Jesus did on the cross was not enough.

In reality, His sacrifice was sufficient. It wasn’t a partial payment- He paid it all-past, present, and future. Live in the forgiveness that He purchased at such a high price for us.

Encouragement from the Word of God- 

Paul wants us to fully understand the love of Christ and offered this prayer:

“I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” Ephesians 3:16-18.

The Greek word for “grasp” translates into taking hold of “to make one’s own.” 

He wants us to focus our thoughts on His love so we can understand a deeper meaning for our personal life.

If fear creeps into our hearts, we can remind ourselves of God’s perfect love: “There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear.” 1 John 4:18. Focus on His love and let it bring you comfort and confidence.

Practical Steps- 

Spend time in prayer, asking God to reveal His love and to open your eyes for opportunities to share it. Meditate on Scripture that speaks of His love and compassion.

Would you like a visual reminder of what the Bible says about love? I have a free printable Bible verse page to help you think about different aspects of love. It is in my Resource page in the “Printable Bible Verses section.”

the love of Jesus Christ- mock up of bible verses about love on white background and pink edges

Living Out Jesus’ Love and Compassion

The Call to Action- 

 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Mark 12: 30-31a.

This statement from Jesus was based on the First Commandment and in response to the religious leaders questioning Him about the greatest commandment in the Law. Jesus’ answer reduced it down to these two principles: love God and love others.

 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34.

Practical Ways to Show His Love and Compassion to Others-

Our human minds cannot entirely comprehend how much Jesus loves us. We can only accept and give thanks for what we can understand and share what we know with the world.

Even our smallest acts of love reflect His heart. Be intentional in forgiving and extending grace. Listening and encouraging are ways to express it. Acts of kindness, such as helping a neighbor or volunteering, show His love.

​Sharing the Gospel is the ultimate act of love for this hurting world.

I’ve compiled a list of practical ways to love like Jesus with your family, your neighbors, and the world. Click on the image below for instant access.

love like jesus- red line curving into two hearts on white and pink backgroun

Challenges and Encouragement-

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:12-13.

This kind of unconditional love (agape love) is a precious choice, thinking only of the other person. We often love our families this way. But we can also love those He does- the outsiders in society, the foreigner, and our enemies.

“But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:44-45a.

This goes against our nature- we want retaliation or to lash out with hurtful words. But Jesus is asking us to use the power of the Holy Spirit to show His love, even to those whom we may not feel love.

“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:11.

It’s not always easy to love others as Jesus did. But His promised Holy Spirit lives within us to teach, guide and direct us to love like Jesus. 

He will empower us to show His love and compassion because it is an important piece of living a full life in a relationship with Him.

Blessings of love,

AnnMarie

Reflections:

When life gets overwhelming, where do you turn to be reminded that you are loved and cared for?

How can we show His love to those who are sick- physically, mentally, and spiritually? 

Besides the gift of life itself, how have you experienced His love? Has He provided opportunities for growth or healing? Has He guided you through difficult times?

All Scripture is taken from the New International Version unless specified otherwise.

Photo Credits: Canva, Deposit Photos

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