Twelve Ways of Loving Others

I harp a lot on loving others, but the reason I do is that is an important part of being a follower of Jesus. If we look around us, it also appears to be something that those of us who identify ourselves as Christians find easy to forget. For some reason it does not stick with us.

One possible reason is that with the internet and social media there are many other voices clamoring for our attention. When we listen too much to these voices, they may make it difficult for us to hold onto what Jesus taught. If we genuinely want to follow Jesus, we need to turn down or even turn off these voices and listen to his.

We may have the misapprehension that if we feel warm fuzzy feelings for one group of people or another, we feel sympathy for them, we are doing what Jesus taught us to do. But when Jesus taught us to love others, he meant everybody! Jesus mentions several different groups of people—neighbors, enemies, each other. When we add these groups together, their sum is everybody! Jesus did not leave out anyone. He did not say, “You can love these folks, but you don’t have to love those folks.”

In teaching us to love others, Jesus instructed his disciples and ourselves in specific ways of showing love for them. Let’s take a look at what he taught.

1. We must always attempt reconciliation. (There is one exception but that is the subject for a separate reflection.) We must do what we can to make peace with those who have something against us. If a brother or sister in Christ wrongs us, we should have it out with them, speaking with them privately, and seeking to win them back as a brother or sister in Christ.

2. Whatever we have to say let our “yes” be a plain “yes” and our “no” be a plain “no.” We are honest and forthright with other people. We do not equivocate, attempting to conceal the truth or avoid making a commitment. We show ourselves to be trustworthy.

3. Do more than what is demanded or expected from us. Go the extra mile.

4. Be generous. Give to those who ask anything from us and don’t turn away from those who wants to borrow. Do good and lend without expecting to get anything back.

Here we can also learn from Jesus’ example: He was very generous with his time.

5. Do good to those who hate us. Bless those who curse us. Pray for those who treat us badly.

6. Forgive other people their failures. Forgive them from the heart. Forgive anything that we are holding against anyone else.

7. Refrain from criticizing other people. Avoid being judgmental and condemning. Whatever measure we use will be used toward us. Make allowances for them. Deal with our own shortcomings and failures before offering to help someone deal with theirs.

8. Treat other people exactly as we would like them to treat us. Anything not done in the spirit of love is not in keeping with what Jesus taught. It is not done in the right spirit.

9. Show mercy. Show compassion, forgiveness, and leniency.

10. Be kind as our Father in heaven is kind.

11. Give practical sympathy like the Good Samaritan who bound up the wounds of the bandits’ victim, brought him to the safety of an inn, and paid for his lodging at the inn.

12. Love our brothers and sisters in Christ with the same kind of love that Jesus showed us, a sacrificial love which does not put ourselves first.

Among these ways of loving others is NOT showing a general blanket acceptance of everything that other people say or do. Jesus does not say that we have to condone the hurtful things they say or do, hurtful to themselves or to others, or to emulate them. That is not what he taught.

Jesus refused to condemn the woman caught in adultery, but he also did not condone what she did. Rather he forgave her and told her not to commit adultery again. The love he showed her was not in overlooking what she had done but in forgiving it.