Easy love is worthless, yet, we seek easy. Every sports game, parade, picket line, march, etc. will have signs calling for love. We want our definition of love. We want easy love. Isn’t that selfish? Isn’t selfishness the antithesis of love?
We all want a love worth fighting for. Do you fight for easy? Does easy demand a fight? I know at this point you’re tempted to click away. You’re saying, “Jason, where is that fun intro story to guide us into the more serious?” Ok fine…
A guy walked into a bar… NO!!!! Bars are where we look for ‘easy’ love. Gotcha.
Check out what Jesus says at the end Matthew 5, a portion of what is known as the sermon on the mount.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
It all seems so obvious right? Jesus is to the point. But yet, action is the tough part. We can’t blow past this. “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” James 1:22
Think about the person you dislike the most. Think about the person that has harmed you. Think about the person who has given you a run for your money. Think of the person who has drained you and has never offered anything of value in your life. Now think of loving them. Easy right?
Jesus doesn’t tell some cool intro story, He goes right for it. Culture says love your neighbor (friends). Culture says hate your enemies. So far so good right? This makes sense in the natural world. Emotionally, all of that lines up. Then, dang it, Jesus there you go again, being all counter-culture, counter-intuitive, counter-emotional.
"Jesus there you go again, being all counter-culture, counter-intuitive, counter-emotional."
You’ve heard this and you’ve thought about it, here is what I have to say; love the hard to love. He says that rain falls on the just and the unjust, as if to say, love is universal not selective (given the context).
Jesus says very bluntly, if we only love the easy to love, if we only love those who will love us back, if we only love a select few- what reward will we have? What good is that? Is that really a love worth fighting for? Is that really love? True loves does not insist on its own way. True love is not self-seeking. True love isn’t rude. True love is patient. True love isn’t irritable. True love doesn’t rejoice when wrongdoing or harm happens to another (or by another). This is all based on 1 Cor. 13. It’s easy to apply this to easy to love people. It’s easy to do the antithesis to our enemies. It’s hard to apply this to our enemies. This hard love is exactly what God defines as true love.
"This hard love is exactly what God defines as true love."
“...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8. It is my honor to love those hard to love. Why? It was done for me. I know me. I know I’m not easy to love. If God is perfect and holy (He is), I am very hard to love. Yet, knowing me, fully knowing me, He still sent Jesus to die for me. Why? It demonstrates true love. For God so loved... By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us...
So I keep the application of this real simple, who is the hardest person in your life to love? Who do you least want to love?
"who is the hardest person in your life to love?"
Is God calling you to love them? The hard type of love. Truthful, patient, selfless, peaceful type of love.
This isn’t a time to read more. It’s time to pray and then act.
Pray for One (perhaps we’ve identified a new ‘one’ to start praying for)-
Pastor Jason Coache, Lead Pastor of Wellspring Church
