Forgiveness of Sins: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Jesus did not come to condemn the world but he came so the world might be saved through him. Because Jesus came and died on the cross in my place, I know God wants me to be forgiven and I know Jesus did his amazing redemptive work on the cross to afford me the opportunity to be forgiven. So forgiveness of my sins is one of the very biggest reasons I’m so very glad Jesus came. (1 John 1:9, John 3:17)

Jesus Teaches Me to Forgive: As important as forgiveness of my sins is, I’m especially grateful for the way Jesus teaches me to forgive others. I’ve written before about how forgiveness is the personality trait most strongly associated with happiness. Jesus taught me to open up wide to forgiving others. He instructs me to forgive 77×7 times. And when I live this way, I can experience the abundant life Jesus wants for me. So another reason I’m so very glad Jesus came is because of the way he teaches me to forgive. (Love Like Jesus–Forgiveness and Paralysis: Chapter 25, Matthew 18:21-22)

The Way: Jesus shows me the way. Jesus, was and is the perfect man. There’s never been a perfect man before him or after. Jesus is what perfection looks like. And the picture of his life is there for me to study and examine in the Gospels. So another reason I’m so very grateful Jesus came is because he shows me the very best way to live.

The Church: When the church is what the church is supposed to be, it’s God’s kingdom on earth. It’s heaven come down. My experience in Jesus’ church has been overwhelmingly positive. One of the best parts of my life is worshipping together with my family, and, with my family in Christ. The deep relationships with my brothers and sisters in Christ that I’ve experienced over the years have been some of the best ways God has communicated His love to me. So another reason I’m so glad Jesus came is that I get to engage with Jesus’ Church. (Matthew 12:46-50)

The Holy Spirit: Jesus told his disciples, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” I love God’s Holy Spirit. I crave God’s Holy Spirit. God knows I need His Holy Spirit to love Him and to love people the way He wants me to. So I’m very grateful Jesus sent God’s Holy Spirit to us. One drop of His Living Water is better than any great quantity of anything the world has to offer. (John 16:7)

Marriage: Before Jesus I didn’t really understand marriage. Now I know there’s a bigger story here than just my relationship with my wife. My marriage is a picture of Jesus’ marriage to His bride the Church. Everything I do in my own marriage communicates the bigger story of Jesus’ marriage relationship with His Church. That message is communicated to my wife, and to my kids, and to anyone else who’s watching. As important as my marriage relationship is, that bigger picture is even more important. So I’m glad Jesus came so I can have a marriage that’s much deeper than just a relationship between a man and a woman.

Love: Without it we are as a noisy gong, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13. And Jesus was anything but a noisy gong. Jesus was Love incarnate. Jesus is about reconciliation and the abolishment of hostilities. Jesus commanded us to love our enemies. He told us to pray for those who persecute us. He said, if we love those who love us, what reward do we have? Earlier in this list we saw Jesus is the Way. And it turns out, Jesus’ way is love. So the love of Jesus, the love he has for me, the way he communicates God’s love for me, and the way he fills me with his love so I can love others, love, Jesus’ love is yet another reason I’m so glad, so very glad Jesus came to Earth and lived among us. (Matthew 5:43-48)

“Father, we thank You for sending Your Son to us. We pray You will fill us with his love, his love for You and his love for the people You put in our lives. We pray You will help us to walk the way Jesus walked to the greatest degree possible. We pray that as we celebrate Christ’s coming this Christmas, You will be pleased with the way we express our love for him.

“It’s in his name we pray.

“Amen.”

Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)

Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others.

Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:

• Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.
• How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).
• The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.
• How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.
• How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.
• How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).
• How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).
• How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.
• How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.

With genuine unfiltered honesty,  Love Like Jesus,  shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.

A life of loving like Jesus.