What's Love-part 2

Hello everyone! Thanks for checking out this week's The Mixblog entry. Today we have a "guest writer"...Sheri Hargis fills us in on what was discussed this week as we continued our current teaching series on "What Is Love-Really?". Here are Sheri's thoughts...

This week Shon Hargis spoke about love and how Jesus loved. He talked about people often use the catchphrase "WWJD". Shon said that instead of WWJD, what we should be saying is "What Would Jesus Be Doing"...WWJBD. : ) Jesus is the ultimate example of how we are to love and there are many examples of His love throughout the Gospels.

Mark 1:40-42... A man with leprosy came to Jesus and begged ot be healed. Jesus was "filled with compassion" and immediately healed the man. Jesus saw his need and looked for a way to meet it. He does this with us too...He looks for our needs and looks for ways to meet them--because He loves us !

Mark 5:18-20... After Jesus cast the demons out of the man, He told him to go and tell everyone what He had done for him and how merciful He had been. Again, He met his need and showed mercy.

Mark 8:1-3... For the 2nd time (that was mentioned in the Gospels), Jesus met the needs of the people who were following them and fed them. He felt compassion for them because they "stuck by Him" for three days and He knew if He sent them away, they would faint before they made it home to eat...so His compassion prompted Him to feed them.

Mark 10:13-16... When the people were bringing their children to Jesus, the disciples tried to send them away so they didn't bother Him. But Jesus let them know that the children were very important to Him and that they were always welcome. He loved the children because He knew the kind of faith they had. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all had the faith of a child? Isn't it sad that as we get older we become jaded and lsoe that faith? And think about the way that children love others...unconditionally, like Jesus. If only we could love that way...

John 11... This is the story about Jesus' friend Lazarus who gets sick and dies. Jesus does not immediately go to his side to heal him and Lazarus's sisters blame Him for their brother's death. Jesus goes to Lazarus' grave and when He sees Mary and the others weeping over Lazarus, He becomes "deeply troubled". Then the scriptures state that "Jesus wept". This is one of the most loving examples in the Bible...Jesus crying over the death of His friend. We know what happens next, when Jesus raises Lazarus form the dead and gives glory to God for that. But it is such a human characteristic of Jesus to be so saddened by the death of someone He loves...even though He knows what is going to happne next. He showed love for that family by sharing in their grief. Jesus does that for us too. We should remember that the things that sadden us also sadden Jesus too. When we lose a loved and we feel so alone in our grief, just remember that Jesus is with us and He feels sadness too. He is the great comforter and will help us deal with our pain and loss.

John 13:1-5... Jesus washes His disciples' feet. This was the ultimate example of servanthood. Feet washing was a job that nobody wanted to do and only the lowest of servants got stuck doing it. But Jesus His love for His disciples by getting down on the floor and washing their feet...right before He was to be crucified on the cross for their (and our) sins!!! He loved them...and He loves us...even though we are all sinners.

So how did Jesus show His love...what was He doing? He was serving, He was meeting our needs, He was showing us His mercy, He was constantly giving of Himself. He was showing us the way God loves us. He is our example of love and He is who we should aspire to be like. So...I guess the question for discussion or pondering is this: How do we love like Jesus?

Thanks for reading!

--Sheri

And thank-you Sheri for sharing your thoughts with us! I think we all probably need to let God show us how to love people more like Jesus loved them. I know I do. Hope to see you back here next week for The Mixblog.