Book Title and Author: Love Like Jesus by Judah Smith
Genre: Christian Living, Discipleship
Key Theme: Christlike Love, Spiritual Growth
Primary Audience: Primarily for teenagers, but also good for new believers and those feeling stagnant in their faith.
Do you find it challenging to love others with consistency and depth, especially when it’s difficult? Love Like Jesus addresses this universal struggle by pointing readers back to the ultimate source of love. The author goes in depth in the fact that we cannot manufacture this love ourselves. Instead, we must first receive and be transformed by the perfect love of Jesus Christ. This book is for anyone who wants to move beyond human effort and learn to love from an overflow of divine grace.
The author builds his narrative on a foundation of biblical principles, primarily drawing from the Gospels to examine the life and interactions of Jesus. Some chapters would have specific verse references while other chapters focus more on using real-life stories to illustrate what radical, practical love looks like in action.
A key insight is that loving like Jesus is not a behavioral checklist but a natural outcome of abiding in Him. The author emphasizes that our primary calling is to be loved by Jesus, which then empowers us to love others authentically. He presents this timeless principle and makes it applicable to all, through an accessible and conversational style that comes mostly from his personal stories. This makes modern examples highly relatable for a broad audience.
This book challenged me to shift my focus from trying harder to love to receiving more of Christ’s love for me. The most actionable takeaway is the simple, yet profound, practice of starting each day by praying, “Jesus, let me receive your love for me right now.” This prayer re-centers my identity in Him and deepens my understanding of the profound work Jesus accomplished on the cross. As the book explores the various challenges of loving like Jesus—whether in compassion, contrition, or confidence—this practice ensures that my love for others becomes a genuine overflow from the love I have first received from Him.