I've been thinking a lot lately about how to love like Jesus because while his love was crazy and radical and difficult, my love tends to seem lame and mediocre. Even love for him, the Creator of everything and a being actually made out of love- he literally reeks of love- is hard for me to muster up sometimes. I can never love him enough.
In "Crazy Love" Francis Chan writes, "It confuses me when loving God is hard. Shouldn't it be easy to love a God so wonderful?...It may sound 'un-Christian' to say that on some mornings I don't feel like loving God, or I just forget to. But I do. In our world, where hundreds of things distract us from God, we have to intentionally and consistently remind ourselves of Him." I wholeheartedly agree. What's the deal?! It is actually difficult for me to sincerely love my Creator and his creations.
In John 14:15 Jesus says, "If you love me, you will do what I command." That doesn't just mean not stealing and not cussing. It doesn't just mean to smile at someone who looks sad. It means disciplining, being willing to give up everything I own, and dying to myself. It means genuinely loving the person who annoys me most. It means not spending my money on things that don't matter but actually getting up off of my butt and doing what I can to stop injustice, hunger, and preventable diseases in other countries. It means picking up my cross (as David Platt puts it, my "instrument of torture") and following Jesus.
I know it's a crazy endeavor and it's going to be difficult and I may end up lonely and rejected at times, but I want to live for the Jesus who loved me enough to die a nasty, awful, painful death; and that means learning to love like him. This next passage is just the beginning of some of the stuff Jesus asks us to do. It's gonna be a crazy ride.
Matthew 25: 34-45
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’"
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