# As Jesus Loved

Language: en  
Author: \~Viola J\. Berg  
Original issue: The Heartbeat of The Remnant, October/November/December 2009, Number 4  
Source pages: 14  
Read article: <https://remnant.truechristian.church/en/poetry/as-jesus-loved/>
Original PDF: 2009\-4Q\-Remnant\.pdf
[The Heartbeat of The Remnant, October/November/December 2009](<https://remnant.truechristian.church/en/issues/heartbeat-remnant-2009-10/>)

![line illustration of an adult and child](<https://remnant.truechristian.church/images/articles/594e6de0-71ae-4367-8d81-2ae37c93b98b-1.jpg>)

I thought I knew how to love  
 but I found  
 that I really didn’t\.  
 I was just giving my love  
 to those who loved me back—  
 to the clean children,  
 the respectable folk,  
 the well\-behaved teenagers,  
 the obedient ones;  
 but I didn’t have any real feeling  
 for the runny\-nosed dirty child  
 next door,  
 or for the quarrelsome old man  
 across the street  
 who played his radio  
 so maddingly loud\.  
 So God had to admonish me—  
 and He did\.  
 He showed me to my shocked surprise  
 that I was passing by  
 on the other side,  
 that I wasn’t really walking  
 in His footsteps at all;  
 because when Christ  
 lived on our earth  
 He ate with publicans,  
 and sinners,  
 He talked with the woman  
 at the well,  
 He humbly washed  
 His disciple’s feet,  
 and He loved sinners everywhere\-  
 the tax gatherers  
 the prostitutes,  
 the doubters,  
 the hungry,  
 the untouchables of His day,  
 He loved them all\.  
 Through my tears I saw  
 that I was not really following Him at all;  
 and then I understood  
 that if I wanted to be His disciple  
 and bear His name,  
 I must be willing to give up  
 my selfish convenient little world  
 and mingle with the lost ones—  
 minister to their needs,  
 heal their wounds,  
 share their sorrows,  
 and offer a cup of water  
 in His name\.  
 I must love as Jesus loved;  
 for unless I do,  
 how are the lost and lonely ones  
 around me  
 going to believe  
 that God loves them—  
 if they cannot see  
 His love in me?  
 How, tell me,  
 how are they ever  
 going to know?

\~Viola J\. Berg