December 31, 2024 Devo

December 31st, 2024

“It’s All About Jesus!”
Jesus and the New
“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.” – John 13:34 (NLT)
“Loving the Jesus Way”

As we end 2024, I offer a challenge for the new year: To love as Jesus loved. Love has always been the highest law of God. When Jesus was asked, “What’s the greatest commandment?” He responded with, “Love.” “Love God with your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
The problem is that we all have a different idea of what “love” is. We tend to bend it and define it to fit how WE want to love. We tack on our own little clichés and definitions to make it justify how we want to treat people. So Jesus gives the commandment a new twist. He tells us to love like He loves us. HE is the model. HE is the standard. HIS LOVE becomes the definition of what True Love really is. And it becomes our goal for the New Year.
Sit with this thought for a while. What would it look like if you loved YOU like Jesus loves you this next year? How would it change how you see yourself? How would it change how you talk to yourself? How would it change the grace you give yourself? So many of our issues with others have to do with our own lack of love for ourselves. But what if we loved ourselves as Jesus loves us? That would change EVERYTHING.
What would it look like to love your family like Jesus? How much more patient would you become with your spouse? How much more tender would you be with your children? How much more selfless would you act and more encouraging would you become? Our families desperately need Jesus. Maybe we could start by loving them as He does.
How would things change for you if you loved the others around you like Jesus? How would it change how you treat that person that you despise? How would it change the way you treat that person who hurt you, failed you, or betrayed you? Here’s another great question: If you loved like Jesus, how do you think it would change how people see YOU? How would it change the way they see this Jesus that we tell them we serve? Loving the Jesus way isn’t easy. But it’s the only love that truly has the power to change the world. And change US. That’s God’s Word for you today.
(Beginning tomorrow, we will be walking our way through Psalms, a book filled with hope, inspiration, healing, and challenge. Thank you for your support and encouragement in these daily devotionals. May God bless you with an incredible New Year!)