EXEMPLIFYING CHRIST-LIKE LOVE
Let no one despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in loveG26, in faith, in purity.
1 Timothy 4:12
Love in the context of the verse above is Christ-like love. It is a choice to love rather than being based on an emotional response. Paul was exhorting Timothy that even though he was relatively young to be a pastor, he could be a model of the kind of love shown by the God-Man Jesus, the Christian kind of love. Paul the Apostle placed Timothy in the position of overseer—pastor—to the believers in Ephesus and must have felt he was equipped for that challenge despite his youth. Paul encouraged Timothy to be exemplary in all facets of biblical godliness. He was to sparkle as one of God’s precious jewels among the believers.
I have a dear friend who is a prime example of this type of love, truly a precious jewel. Janelle had already shown me love in many ways when she came to visit me saying, “I have to apologize to you.” Incredulously I asked, “Why would you need to apologize to me?” She explained that she had loved me but not as Christ would love me. She said Jesus had asked her specifically to love me as He would, on His behalf, and she had answered “yes.” She has fulfilled that promise to the Lord many times over. She stayed with me in the hospital in Tulsa to give my family members an opportunity to rest and freshen up. She visited me numerous times in my apartment. Janelle even flew all the way from Arkansas to Texas to stay with me in the hospital while Susie went to prepare a place for me in her home—now our home—since the Lord had knit us together as sisters. Janelle met my needs with a tender care that can only come from the love of Jesus within her. When she sees me, she sees Jesus and ministers to me as if I were He. Her Christlike love is an example of how the “familyship” of God should behave toward one another.
Do you have a Janelle in your life? Better yet, are you being that kind of loving, consistent friend to a sister or brother? Pray the Lord will surround and fill you with this agápē love.
Father, fill us with agápē, the love for “framily” and even the unlovely, going out of our way to demonstrate grace, love, and kindness to everyone.
Worship with Bill and Gloria Gaither and friends singing “I’m So Glad I’m a Part of the Family of God”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI7JxRoIMk4