Love Can Be Difficult
Christmas is almost here. As we anticipate the arrival of the newborn King, we have tried to bring our focus back on Jesus and have discussed how to find peace and joy amid this busy time. The one thing we have not discussed very well may be the hardest to find this week…LOVE.
Holidays can be difficult when you add family, co-workers, neighbors, and others who are hard to love in the mix. Maybe your personalities don’t mesh well. Maybe they are non-believers who debate every Biblical truth with you. Maybe they are the ones who only see the negatives in your life and never see the good. Maybe they are the family member who expects your house to be perfect and will only eat off the finest china. Whoever the difficult ones to love are in your life, chances are you will probably see them this week.
This is when we need our focus on Jesus more than ever. As we look at Mark 12, we see the two greatest commandments. The first is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. We cannot have the second one without the first one.
If our focus is not on Jesus, we are focused on the world. The world fills our heads with hatred, anger, selfishness, pride, and confusion. In Mark 12:30, Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Notice in Mark 12:30, Jesus adds one more aspect on loving the Lord, our minds. To fully love Him, we must fully understand Him. To fully understand Him, we must fully focus our thoughts on Him. When we focus on Him, the world disappears. As the world disappears, Jesus becomes more prominent in our thoughts and actions, and that is when loving our neighbors as ourselves comes into play.
If our minds are filled with what is going on in the world and we only focus on the earthly things people do and say, it is impossible to see them as God sees them. I have a few people in my family that are difficult for me to love. I tend to focus on the worldly things they have done and the choices they have made. When that is what I am focused on, I am not focused on Jesus. I cannot love them and it is impossible for me to display God’s love to them.
So, I ask myself, “How can I see them as God sees them?”
Our focus is brought back to Jesus through contact with Him. We are in contact with Jesus through prayer, quiet time, reading His Word, confession, and honest feelings. Jesus is ready to hear how we honestly feel about others. He is the only One who can change our hearts towards people so that we can love them unconditionally. This can be a hard task because we can feel shame for our feelings, but knowing that Jesus is already aware of our true feelings should open our hearts to sharing with Him. As I tell my kids, honesty is the best policy. If we go to Him with a willingness to change, He can mold us.
Just like joy, love is a command for Christians. And just like joy, loving others can be a struggle. But Jesus brought this to us when He came into the world. He gave us hope, joy, peace, and love. May we accept these gifts this Christmas and in return give our greatest gift to our King. May we obey His commandments and accept the calling to live in peace, be hopeful, be filled with joy, and love Him and His people. Jesus is the greatest gift of all, and our focus should rest in Him this Christmas and beyond.
Digging Deeper:
Read Mark 12:28-34
Who will you see this Christmas that is difficult for you to love?
How is God calling you to see them through His eyes?
As you have focused on Jesus this Christmas season, what has stood out to you?