Jesus Said Love
In our “Burning Hearts” 2026 bible reading plan, right now, we’re in the middle of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians – and it perfectly lines up with what Rebecca spoke about on Sunday, and, well, with the center of Jesus’ message to us:
Love.
On Sunday, Rebecca talked about the “greatest commandment”, per Jesus, to “love God” with all you’ve got (heart, soul, and mind), and the second that is ‘like it’, to “love your neighbor as yourself”. That just about sums it up – as all the ‘Law and the Prophets’ (i.e., the Old Testament) can be hung on it.
In today’s reading from Ephesians (chapter 5), Paul puts a fine point on it when he says,
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Paul is setting an incredibly high bar (imitate God!) – but gives it to us within our proper context (as beloved children): be like Dad! It’s not exactly what Jesus is saying, but then again, it sort of is. What could be more loving towards God (with all of our heart, soul, and mind) than to imitate him in the way that we love others? That, I believe, is why the ‘second command’ is “like it”. You can’t have one without the other.
Love God by loving your neighbor.
When you love your neighbor, you’re loving God.
Paul puts a finer point on it by saying “as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us…”.
This is the center of what God’s love is actually like – self-giving. It’s why Christ’s love (and life) reveals God: his heart, his love, his character. It’s self-giving love through and through. It’s why a guy like John (1 Jn. 4:8) can write those three words what we can never stop trying to get a hold of (or rather, let get a hold of us):
God is love.
And here, the “Jesus Said” series on his teachings come full circle. The primary message of Jesus was “the Kingdom of God” – and the summary of all his teaching his “love God, love neighbor”. It all makes sense and all ties together because the God whose kingdom it is – the God whose reign and rule and way and will is being brought on earth as it is in heaven in us and through us – is the God who is love.
So the announcement of the Kingdom of God – the announcement that Jesus is Lord and King and reigns and rules – is also and always at the same time the call and command to love others as Christ loved us.
So who are you loving like that today?
How are you serving – and announcing – the Kingdom of God in it and through it?
If you’re in need of ideas as to what it looks like on the ground, open a Gospel and look at what Jesus did. Or, read above and below Ephesians 5:1-2 and begin to explore the ways that Paul applied the love command to a community that was in turmoil and in danger of fracture.
When we read scripture like this, we allow it to be our guide, we come under it as hearers and doers – servants of the Word – and in turn, the Spirit shapes us by it – to be loving people, to be more like Christ, or as Paul puts it, as God’s children – to be like God.