Loving is scary … and unfortunately loving people is scarier. People are mean, sarcastic, insensitive, selfish and well, you get the picture. It is scary to love people. What if they don’t love you back? What if you open yourself up to love them and receive nothing in return? Or even worse, what if they betray your love for them? With all of these possibilities, Jesus still commands us to love people.
Jesus understood the pain that loving people could bring; after all, he was put to death by a Roman torture device by his own people. He is God, though … right? He’s perfect. But we are mere humans, and of course he knows that. He knows our inability to be perfect, our falling short in every category. He knows our tenderness, our need to be cared for and dealt with gently. Even so, Jesus commands us to love people — people who normally are not caring, gentle and tender to our needs, who are imperfect to say the least.
What is love?
How then do we love? It is different for everyone, but a general idea of what it looks like to love people is necessary. To love someone is to receive them with their imperfections, within their failures and to extend grace they do not deserve. Now, this looks different with everyone because grace offered practically is situational. But I believe that truly loving someone breaches the depths of a person’s imperfections and gracefully meets them where they fall short.
Back to what I said earlier, loving people is scary; to love someone in their imperfections leaves those hearts extending the love open to reciprocated damage. Dear reader, I understand this fear. I have been where you are. Dear Christian, we can be fearless when loving. Being unconditionally loved by Jesus despite our own epic failures and imperfections frees us. This love, which is so richly lavished upon us, which requires nothing before it is given, releases us from the shackling social norms of our “give and take” society. It literally enables us to be able to love people without them needing to prove themselves or their “worthiness” to us. They do not have to do anything for us to love them. We are free to love them without any inhibitions and restrictions. We can simply love, but only because Jesus first loved us.
Overcoming our fear to love
No one ever said loving people was easy, but it is necessary. I encourage you to be courageous and genuinely receive people with their imperfections. Meet people where they fall short and love them faithfully, for to this you were called. I won’t promise you a life without hurts, pains and scars as you love, but I can promise you a Savior who heals even the most hurt and broken. Never forget that we only love because Jesus first loved us; so run to him and love the nations.
