God Running is a place for anyone who wants to (or even anyone who wants to want to) love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.
Khesed
khesed
This word (pronounced by most English speakers as hessed with the accent on the first syllable) is often translated as simply love. But what I’ve learned is, it’s really a combination of ideas including love, generosity, and enduring commitment and faithfulness in a relationship. To understand the deep meaning of the original word, we can look at how various Bible translations have rendered it. These different translations include steadfast love, goodness, kindness, loving kindness, faithfulness, and of course love. So the meaning of this word khesed is deep and big, much bigger than the word love in the English language. (Bible Project, ESV, KJV, YLT, WEB, NASB, NIV)
Khesed is a deep abiding unwavering love.
We see it used 26 times in Psalm 136 to describe God’s great love for us: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his khesed endures forever.” That’s how it starts. And as we read we hear over and over again how God’s great “khesed endures forever.”
Jesus’ Khesed
We see it described in Ephesians 3:18-19 how great is the depth of Christ’s love.
You and I already know how great God’s love is for us because of how Jesus left his throne and came to Earth in complete humility, as a helpless baby, born into lowly circumstances. How for years he worked with his hands as a carpenter. And how Jesus who was completely innocent endured mocking, false accusations, torture, and a grueling death: for us, for our faults and our sins.
How great is the depth of Christ’s love.
How great is the depth of Christ’s love.
How deep is his love for us.
This is khesed.
Our Khesed
So as we think this through, we see how the word khesed transcends the word love and we see how great Jesus’ khesed is for us.
And then we see what Jesus commanded, that we should love one another as Jesus loved us. We’re to love “just as I have loved you,” Jesus said. Our khesed is to be the same as his, the same as Jesus’ khesed.
Jesus even said we’d be known as his disciples because we love each other the way Jesus loved.
In parts one and two we talked about how a huge source of God’s power is being very connected to a group of Jesus’ followers whose faces light up when they see us. And we talked about the importance of gratitude and thanksgiving.
Today we see a third characteristic of what a group of Jesus followers should look like. They should khesed like Jesus.
The group should be a high khesed group.
And you and I should do everything we can to find such a group and connect ourselves to such a group.
When we do we’ll see our ability to love others like Jesus loved grow: even difficult people, even enemies.
“Father, please, we are pleading with You, fill the dear person who’s reading this right now and fill me with the khesed of Jesus. And help us to find a group of Jesus followers to connect with face to face on a regular basis. A group whose faces light up when they see us. A group with high khesed.
“Use this group of Your people to transform us into the likeness of Jesus.
“In Jesus’ name we ask this of You.
“Amen.”
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” [emphasis mine]
John 13:34-35
Notes:
Exploring the Hebrew word khesed by Bible Project Team
Image of friends embracing via stocksnap.io–
Available on Amazon! 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. (Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon.)
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It is my understanding that the word is most frequently translated as Mercy. This is very meaningful to me as I am keenly aware of the sin that I repented of over 20 years ago when I was born again. He who has been forgiven much loves much I can attest. And it is important for us to have mercy as well!
That’s a great comment! Yet another dimension of khesed. What you said reminds me of something Jesus said: “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” God is merciful and gracious.