It’s A Hard Love
“Let all that you do be done in love.” — 1 Corinthians 16:14
It’s easy to love in the easy moments.
It’s easy to congratulate a teammate when your team wins. It’s easy to celebrate with our friends when things are going our way. It’s even easy to love our competitors when we’re the ones walking away with the victory.
But what happens when things don’t go our way?
What happens when our disappointment is caused by another person? When a teammate lets us down? When someone says something that hurts? When the person we were competing against beats us?
It’s easy to be frustrated, walk away, bad-mouth others, and shift blame away from ourselves.
But love is never tested in the easy moments.
Jesus never told us to love only when it was convenient. In fact, it’s precisely the opposite. Jesus showed us a kind of love that went far beyond convenience. He loved people who rejected Him. He showed compassion to people who misunderstood Him. And even as He was being crucified, He prayed for the very people who were putting Him on the cross.
That is a different kind of love. Wait…that’s a different kind of everything. But that’s the kind of different followers of Jesus are called to.
The world teaches us to love people who love us back, celebrate people who celebrate us, and respect people who earn our respect. But Jesus calls us to something greater. Something the world would consider backward.
“Let all that you do be done in love.”
Notice that Paul doesn’t say, “Let the things that are easy be done in love.” He says all that you do.
That includes the hard conversations.The disappointments.The losses.The moments when someone gets under your skin.The moments when someone else gets the recognition you wanted.Even the moments when your competition beats you.
Our response in those moments reveals something about what is really in our hearts.
Loving someone when everything is going our way doesn’t cost us. But choosing love when we’re hurt, disappointed, and defeated—that’s where we reflect the love of Jesus.
So today, don’t simply reciprocate the love others give to you.
Ask, “Who is God asking me to love when it isn’t easy?”
Maybe it’s the very person you despise the most. Maybe it’s someone you’re competing against. Maybe it’s someone you don’t see eye-to-eye with. Maybe it’s someone you have said the words, “I hate them…” out loud.
Whatever the situation, remember: we don’t love because people always deserve it. We love because Jesus first loved us.
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