Note sull'episodio
Love Will Cost You Something
Christian love is beautiful, but it is not always convenient.
Jesus did not demonstrate love by protecting His comfort. He laid down His life.
That is the standard we have been given.
Loving the church will sometimes require inconvenience. It may require you to forgive when you would rather hold on to the offence.
It may require you to stay patient with someone who is difficult. It may require you to serve when you are tired, listen when you would rather leave, or put another person's needs ahead of your own.
This is why selfishness is such a serious enemy of love.
When everything revolves around what makes us comfortable, we will naturally resist anything that costs us. But love is willing to surrender something for the good of another person.
Paul described his own ministry in remarkably sacrificial terms. His life was not centred on himself. He was willing to spend himself for the sake of the people God had entrusted to him.
This does not mean that healthy boundaries are wrong. It does not mean allowing people to abuse you or refusing to exercise wisdom. It means that inconvenience alone cannot become our excuse for withholding love.
Sometimes we need to ask ourselves an uncomfortable question:
Am I refusing to love because this person is genuinely impossible to love, or because loving them will cost me something?
Christ loved us when loving us cost Him everything.
We learn to love the church by allowing that same self-giving spirit to shape our lives.
Love is not lazy.
Love moves towards people.
Love makes room.
Love sacrifices.
And every time we choose love over selfishness, we become a little more like Jesus.
Prayer
Jesus, teach me to love beyond convenience. Help me to lay down selfishness and become willing to sacrifice for the good of others. Give me wisdom to love well, courage to forgive, and grace to serve even when it costs me something. Amen.