Live Like Jesus Here

LIVE LIKE JESUS HERE

a prayer to open

Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

May your Kingdom come, may your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.

God’s love is perfected, or made complete, not when we receive it but when, after receiving it, we express it to others. Holding it within us, being stingy in handing it out, stunts God’s love. But if we instead pour it out freely and fully to others—even when it costs us, hurts us, and inconveniences us—we live like Jesus here in the world. He is our best example and our most perfect model. His way is the way we live for the sake of others and participate in what he is doing in the world.

• Reflect on what you know of Jesus’ life and how he loved. How would you describe his love to a friend?
• Consider whether there has been a time when you have hoarded God’s love, seeking to keep it to yourself instead of expressing it fully to others. What impact did that have on you?
• As you consider fully living and loving for the sake of others, what fears and self-centered desires arise within you? How might those fears and desires act as barriers to modeling Jesus’ life?

Father, fill me to overflowing with your love. Give me the courage and faith to extend whatever you’ve given me to others freely and fully, knowing that your love is unending. For the times I have been stingy with love or hoarded your love, forgive me. I want to be like Jesus in this world. Transform whatever needs to change so that I can be. And break down the barriers—the fears and desires—that will get in the way. Amen.