How To Love Like Jesus | Eternity Matters More

The congregation is urged to reorder life around the One who gives life by practicing the two-fold law Jesus declared supreme: love God with all of one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love neighbor as oneself. Loving God is not a sentimental slogan but an active, whole-person devotion that shows itself in relationships, worship, renewed thinking, and faithful service. Love is described as initiation rather than reciprocity — a deliberate first step that persists even when others offer only parts of themselves. The healthiest love flows from the certainty of being fully loved by God; without that rooted identity, attempts at wholehearted love become fragmented and defensive.

Attention is given to the human heart as more than a pump: it records memories, shapes emotion, and forms identity. Brokenness, abandonment, and generational wounds leave people able to survive yet not fully equipped to give themselves away. Recovery and transformation are gradual, like healing from heart disease: small faithful practices repeated over time. The only reasonable response to receiving God’s mercy is to present every faculty as a living sacrifice, offering back what has been received in worship, Scripture-shaped thinking, and tangible acts of service.

Practical next steps are emphasized: courses and pathways are offered to help people learn to read Scripture, pray, hear God’s voice, and integrate spiritual formation into daily life; mentorship and community are held up as ways to father and disciple those with gaps in care. A pastoral warning from Revelation cautions against doing religious activity without maintaining the first love — activities can continue while the heart cools. The challenge is to measure success not by busyness or good intentions but by the tangible sound of love in others’ ears — patient, kind, humble, forgiving, hopeful, enduring. The final invitation is simple: respond to the gospel by acknowledging dependence, accepting Christ’s love, and joining a community that will help make love a learned, practiced, and sustaining way of life.

---

Key Takeaways

• 1. Love God and neighbor wholly Loving God with all heart, soul, mind, and strength refuses partial devotion; it insists the inner life and outer actions be unified. Loving neighbor is not a separate duty but the inevitable fruit of wholehearted devotion to God, because true worship overflows into tangible care for others. This is the biblical “both/and” that resists moral loopholes and demands an integrated life of faith. [01:51]
• 2. Loving is initiation, not reciprocation Genuine love does not wait to be earned or mirrored; it takes the first step even when the other offers only a fraction. This posture frees the believer from being defined by others’ approval and trains the soul to reflect God’s proactive grace. Practicing initiation reshapes relationships from transactional exchanges into opportunities for sacrificial presence. [10:01]
• 3. Know you’re fully loved first The capacity to love greatly is tethered to the conviction of being deeply loved by God; unresolved deficits make whole-hearted giving impossible. The heart retains memories and patterns, so healing and secure identity must precede sustained generosity of self. Embracing God’s prior love reorients the will to give freely rather than perform out of scarcity. [12:05]
• 4. Practice love with spiritual disciplines Wholehearted love is learned through repeated disciplines: relational connection, worship that feeds the spirit, Scripture that renews the mind, and faithful service with one’s strength. These practices are not legalistic chores but the means by which the heart is reshaped and sustained for long-term love. Small daily choices compound into a life that loves with resilience and truth. [17:04]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [00:13] - Call to live worthy
• [01:17] - Mark 12 as the focus
• [01:51] - Greatest Commandments explained
• [04:02] - Love like Jesus defined
• [12:05] - The heart: memory and wound
• [17:04] - Responding with all: Romans 12
• [25:10] - Four dimensions of loving
• [31:08] - Practical pathways: Essentials & DNA
• [34:21] - Warning: losing first love
• [41:20] - Invitation and prayer

Bible reading

Mark 12:28–31 (ESV)
“And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, ‘Which commandment is the most important of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The most important is, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” The second is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’”

Romans 12:1 (ESV)
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

Revelation 2:4–5 (ESV)
“But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”

Observation questions

1. In Mark 12:28–31, what are the four specific areas of our being that Jesus says must be engaged in loving God?
2. According to the description of the human heart, what are some of its functions beyond just pumping blood? [12:05]
3. In Revelation 2:2–3, what are the specific positive actions and qualities that the church was commended for before the complaint was issued? [34:21]

Interpretation questions

1. Jesus moves from a singular "commandment" to a plural "these" when discussing love for God and neighbor. How does this suggest that these two loves are an integrated "both/and" rather than separate duties? [08:27]
2. Love is described as an initiation rather than a reciprocation. How does this perspective change the way a person views their responsibility to love someone who is only offering "parts of themselves" or "bad energy" in return? [10:01]
3. The heart is said to have its own "neural network" that stores memories and emotions. How might past wounds, abandonment, or "generational wounds" hinder a person’s ability to give themselves away fully in love? [12:05] [12:58]
4. In Revelation 2, the church is warned that they can continue doing "hard work" and "patient endurance" while still losing their "first love." What does this suggest about the relationship between religious busyness and the actual state of the heart? [34:49]

Application questions

1. It is impossible to fully love others until we realize we are fully loved by God ourselves. Do you ever find yourself trying to "perform" to earn love rather than living out of the security that you are already God’s first choice? [13:15] [24:27]
2. The only reasonable response to receiving God’s mercy is to reflect it back to Him. Looking at your daily rhythm, what are some "small faithful practices" you can start this week to reorder your life around the One who gives life? [17:46] [20:07]
3. We often allow our worth to be shaped by how often we are rejected or "pump faked" by people. When you feel like a "backup plan" in your career or social circles, how can you practically remind yourself that God is not "settling" for you, but actively pursuing you? [23:11] [24:27]
4. Loving God involves four dimensions: relationally, spiritually, mentally, and physically. Which of these areas feels the most "fragmented" or "defensive" for you right now, and what is one step you can take to invite God’s healing into that space? [25:10]
5. Success in love is measured by the "tangible sound" it makes in the ears of others—being patient, kind, and not demanding its own way. If the people you live or work with were asked what your love "sounds" like lately, what would they say? [33:26]
6. We follow Jesus for ourselves, but not by ourselves. Who are the people in your life that help you "reaffirm your yes" to Jesus every day, and how can you be more intentional about joining a community that makes love a practiced way of life? [37:42] [42:42]