The Tough Things of Love

“Love is not warm and fuzzy feelings,” I've heard my Pastor say countless of times. He usually adds “my wife and I love each other dearly, but that doesn't mean that we feel warm and fuzzy about each other all the time.” Boy, that hits a cord every time I hear it. I know my husband is the one man God designed for me, but the warm and fuzzy feelings rapidly get overrun by frustration every time he does one of those things he does which drive me crazy! It is the same with my kids. I love them more than I love myself, but upon occasion they drive me insane! All three of them often complain that I am too tough.  But that doesn't mean I don’t love them. I do and I always will because love is "more than a feeling."  True love, Biblical love, the only kind of real love, is not an emotion. Biblical love is commitment and sacrifice.

Volumes have been written about love. You can fill libraries with all the books that exist on this topic. There is nothing else I could possibly add to the discussion. However, this morning I woke up thinking about the tough things of love. Sometimes, like Dr. Dobson said in one of his books, love must be tough. Love, sometimes requires us to do the hard thing and it surely doesn't feel good, warm and fuzzy inside when we have to do them. Scripture, particularly the New Testament, contains numerous instances where we are called to “reprove, rebuke, and exhort.” (2 Timothy 4:2) Admonishing others is not the easiest thing, let alone reproving or rebuking! But in love, we are supposed to do it when we see it fit BECAUSE of that love we have for them. It is love what must move us to do the hard things of love.

When I think of the neighbor’s children I am not so worried about “rebuking” them or even correcting them. When I think about my own, you bet I am! I love my children more than I love the neighbor’s –nothing wrong with my neighbor’s children, but they don’t belong to me. I am not committed to them the same way I am committed to my sons. It is the same with Biblical love, the kind that God expresses toward His own children, -He is committed to those who belong to Him-. He is so committed to us that He is willing to do the hardest of things. He is so committed to His own that He is willing to sacrifice His all.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3: 16 

It was out of love that God Himself became the God Incarnate, walked the road to Golgotha and allowed His body to be pierced. It was because of His commitment to us that He gave the ultimate sacrifice so we could live abundantly. And as love moves God to do the tough things of love, it should move us too.

Next time my husband and children complain that I’m being too tough I shall remind them that it is all out of love : )