We emulate people for different reasons.
Sometimes we envy a coworker’s charm. They can say the right words, and they warm themselves to other people.
“Ahh! If only I could do that,” we cry. “I could become the top salesperson, too.”
Then there’s the person in control, totally, one hundred percent of the time. Never an overdrawn account, always on time for work, and their clothes? Pressed and pristine. Even their hair is perfectly coiffed.
Yet, there is another, better virtue to pursue. We need to look for the person who express God’s number one attribute.
Love.
1 John 4:7-8 reveals the ultimate source of our perfect love.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
Galatians 5:22-23 gives us a list of perfect attributes that follow in the wake of God’s enduring love.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
Hebrews 12:1-2 paints the one who died for us as our perfect example to emulate, for he first loved us and does so still.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Acts 1:8 reveals the strength we find in the love of Christ.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Romans 12:1-2 upholds the ultimate sacrifice of love, to give our most precious possession, ourselves, unto the work of God.
“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. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Our love for others is exposed in our kindness and compassion for their needs. When we consider them first, we’ve begun to shine with the love of Christ.
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