The Hardest Part About Love

The hardest part about love is the idea of giving without expectation of return. To check up on somebody who never thinks of you. To pray for someone who may never acknowledge your existence. To invest time pouring into somebody who will never reciprocate. It’s when you choose to let someone go. It’s when you desire the best for somebody, even when it means you don’t get to be a part of their life. It’s when you choose to be present and available, as a shepherd is present and available for their sheep. And all of this stems from the fact that we have a God who loved us when we didn’t care for Him. A God who gave up His very heart for us when we gave Him every reason not to. 

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) 

Love is painful. It costs everything to give everything. Yet my Savior did it for me. So how could I hold my own love back from others? 

“We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

Prayer: 

Lord, I ask that you fill me so richly with your love and grace… that I may not look to others for what they can give to me, but instead to look to them in order to give – to give out of the abundance of what You have given me. I decide today: that people’s actions and/or inactions do not determine how I love – but You do! 

Confronting Failure and Defeat

Failure. Defeat. These two realities entangle us like the cords of death. Perhaps they come by way of another’s sin against us. Perhaps they come by way of natural adversity. Or more painfully perhaps, they come by way of our own stupidity and sinful decisions. No matter how they come, failure and defeat weigh heavy on the heart and stunt the desire within us to delight in our Lord and Savior. 

To make matters worse, it’s not always clear how we ought to move forward when confronted with these realities. We try to seek the Lord and make things right, yet it’s never clear whether we’re making things better or worse. Or whether we’re doing too much or too little. The sentence of condemnation is upon us and it would appear there is no way out. 

Yet there is a precious beauty within this that is all too easy to miss. The best place we can possibly be is where we have nothing to hope in other than God Himself. The best moment we can possibly experience is when we have nothing else to say except, “God, help me!” No clear answer. No clear direction. No pride or merit upon which to rest our confidence. It’s that place and moment where our only hope is the mercy of God. And that is the only true and firm foundation. “Lord, I don’t know what to do, but I am calling upon you to guide me. And I am believing that you will come through!”

But what grounds do we have for any confidence or hope that God will be good to us? It’s in remembering the finished work of Christ. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) We can declare with joy and confidence, “Though I have failed in the flesh, I am righteous because I believe in Jesus!” And not even the greatest achievement of human merit comes close to the level of peace, victory, freedom, and strength we have when we lean on Christ’s righteousness by faith!

Glory be to the God who saves sinners! And glory be to the God who is good to the undeserving! Go forth in confidence, fellow overcomer in Christ!