“The Call and Courage to Love When It Hurts”

In the Gospels and Epistles, love is a command, an attitude, and a lifestyle that is distinctively marked the daily interactions and relationships of Jesus’s followers. In fact, in Christianity, love has a nature and an identity, and arguably is a person, as the Bible boldly declares, “God is love.” Love as a divine virtue and moral and ethical virtue comes with many challenges, defeats, and dissappointments. In spite of the complexity to love difficult people, as love is not a natural human virtue, love is the very essence of the Christian faith and the cross of Christ. Jesus commands his disciples to love their enemies and pray to those who persecute them. Apostle Paul states to do everything in love. The Hebrew Prophets compel us to pursue love, mercy and compassion as these threefold divine attribute summarize the greatness of God and God’s loving actions in the world and gracious interactions with human beings. Hence, God’s creation ought to imitate its Creator by being like Him. Those who love unconditionally and pursue love relentlessly are lke God and his natural children.

Tomorrow morning (Sunday, January 13) at Jesus Center, I will be sharing a few words about the biblical notion of love as a christian virtue and moral order for Jesus’s disciples. The call to love, even one’s enemies and rivals, is the way of Christ and is the most fulfilling way to imitate God and to become like Jesus.

I look forward to engaging you in this vital and practical conversation at 10:00 am, the time of our corporate worship at Jesus Center. You’re welcome to bring a friend with you.

Love has a name; its name is Jesus.