As I Have Loved You
Love shows up in small, quiet moments—responding to others not by instinct, but by the indwelling life of Christ.
Devotional Credit: In Christ by E. Stanley Jones
Photo Credit: Unsplash
E. Stanley Jones draws us into the heart of what it means to be “in Christ”—a phrase that surpasses all religious identifiers. Being in Christ is more than being in the church, more than embracing right doctrine or living out good behavior. It’s not even merely being born again. To be in Christ is to live in love—a particular kind of love—the self-giving, limitless love that flows from Christ Himself.
Jones highlights Jesus’ words, “As I have loved you,” as the highest standard and ultimate definition of love. We don’t get to redefine it. We don’t get to dilute it. This is love displayed not in theory but in flesh—Jesus laying down His life not only for His friends but for His enemies. While we humans often exaggerate our intentions and deliver less than promised, Jesus understated the promise and surpassed it in action.
Two striking contrasts are given: one of religious ritual—where human sacrifice is offered to a lifeless idol—and the other of Christian love—where a man serves those who murdered his father. This juxtaposition shakes us: Christlike love is not mystical sentiment; it is cross-shaped. It is real. It costs something. But it is the highest expression of life.
Jones ends by piercing our assumptions with a quiet question: Does it matter what you think of God? Perhaps not—what matters most is how we respond to the love that has already been poured out in Christ.
Personalized Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture
As I have loved you, so you are now free to love—not with the limits of flesh, but with the overflow of My Spirit. I have poured My love into your heart, not measured or rationed, but full and unending. Greater love has no one than to lay down his life for another—and this is the love I placed within you, the same love that embraced the cross and forgave even those who pierced My hands.
You are not trying to love like Me—you are drawing from My love within you. This is the love that does not return evil for evil, but overcomes evil with good. It blesses those who curse. It forgives seventy times seven. It sees every person as one for whom I died.
Remain in Me. Let your love be the evidence that you are Mine. The love you now walk in is not manufactured but manifested—because I abide in you and you in Me. Do not love in word or tongue only, but in deed and in truth. Let your life be a response to the life I laid down for you. Love as I have loved you.
(Scripture references: John 13:34; Romans 5:5; John 15:13; Romans 12:21; Matthew 18:22; 1 John 3:18; John 15:9–10)
Real-Life Analogy
Imagine someone cut you off in traffic, nearly causing an accident. Your adrenaline spikes, anger flares—but instead of yelling, you wave them on, not because they deserve it, but because you’ve been freed from needing to demand what’s fair. Or imagine you're standing in line at a coffee shop, and the barista is visibly overwhelmed. Rather than snapping at the delay, you look them in the eye and say, “You’re doing great.” These aren’t grand gestures. But they’re quiet revolutions—moments where Christ’s love overrides instinct and shows up in the ordinary. That’s what “as I have loved you” looks like in everyday shoes.
Prayer of Confidence
Jesus, thank You that I no longer need to ask for more love—I live in Your love. I draw from the well of Your heart, and it never runs dry. Thank You that Your life in me is love in action. I trust You to express Yourself through me in ways I could never manufacture. I walk into this day as one who is loved beyond measure and who now gets to love others not by effort, but by overflow. Let the world see You in the way I respond, the way I forgive, and the way I give.