Creation sparks our imagination and strengthens our trust in God. The craziest thing about creation is this: He saved the best for last. And that was us.

Humanity: frail, fearful, and totally dependent. But there’s something about us that no other created thing has: the image of God, according to His likeness, with the command to rule (Genesis 1:26). After creating the earth and the universe, God declared it “good.” After creating us, He declared the universe with us in it “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Not only that, but we are created for His glory (Isaiah 43:7), meaning that we were made to reflect or reveal Him. We are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) because we have the breath of God’s life in us (Genesis 2:7).

As image-bearers of God, we are not just a chance collection of matter or the mere result of eons of changing animals. We are set apart by God, made especially by Him and for Him.

People are His prized creation.

Loving God Means Loving People

How do you know if you love a certain kind of food? You eat it. How do you know if you love a book? You read and reread it. How do you know if you love God? You show specific care for others in your words and actions.

God loves us by communicating with us, leading us, reaching out to us, saving us, and being with us. Immanuel, a name for Christ, means “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23). God loves us by being with us and caring for us, and that’s how He wants us to love others.

So we don’t look at Ephesians 4:25-32 as a list of rules, but as a list of ways to show love toward others. Since love is tied to how you treat people, God made sure you know how to treat people with love. God included instructions for how to treat people in the Law (Leviticus 19) and He revealed it through the stories of the Old Testament believers. Then when He came as Jesus He gave a complete picture of how to love people. We give of our time, energy, and passion to do all that is within us to show love to the people who need it – and that’s everybody. Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, and cleansed the lepers, but He also upheld the downtrodden and gave respect back to the disrespected. He took children in His arms and touched those that society rejected.

Jesus even revealed that on the day of judgment, our love for God will be revealed in how well we loved those we saw in need and what we did to help (Matthew 25:31-46). He told us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:43-48). James even goes so far as to say, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world (James 1:27).”

Start with Ephesians 4:25-32 and Colossians 3:12-16. Put on love for people today.

God Gives Us What We Need to Love People

Maybe you’ve read this far and, deep down, you’re honestly saying, “I just can’t do it.” You just can’t love that person. You just can’t love that group. You’ve tried and tried but there is no love in your heart for certain people or maybe for just one certain person.

That’s where God steps in.

He has given you two powerful weapons that enable you to show love to others in His name: His Spirit and His Word.

When we have a faith relationship with Jesus Christ, we have His Spirit as a guarantee. And “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5). When that Spirit is poured into your heart, you are able to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:25), meaning you bear the fruit of the Spirit. The Spirit gives you the power to love people. Love truly is a choice.

That doesn’t mean you bless cruel actions or allow abusive treatment – that would be allowing destruction of people, God’s crowning creation. It doesn’t mean you spend tons of time with a person who dishonors God – you would be unequally yoked. But you give the respect God gives, and you then turn your attention to show love to people for whom your efforts are fruitful. You stay up all night with a sick infant. You give a warm meal to your spouse who had to work all night. You respond with kindness even when you feel like snapping.

On top of that power, we’re given very specific instructions for how to love people in God’s Word. He gives us Scripture so that we may be “thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:17). And if “all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself'” (Galatians 5:14), we can be certain that His Word surely equips us to love others.

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Content in this article is taken from The Color Code Study Bible.

The Color Code Study Bible uses distinct colors to highlight Bible verses on seven core topics of the Bible, helping you understand, at a glance, what Scripture says about important subjects like Salvation, Last Things, and God the Father.