There isn’t.
Stop trying to find the loophole. Sacrifice that costs nothing isn’t sacrificial. In the same way, selfish love isn’t lovely. I’ll be honest. I keep having this obvious but understated epiphany as if I could bypass the laboring part of love and find the silver bullet.
If you are like me, by nature you are self-interested. And when difficult people come around, your selfish meters spike. That means in order to be others-centered, you will have to do the unnatural. You will have to bless people who can’t return favors, who take but don’t return love, who step in disharmony with you, or who make your skin crawl. How will you find the power to love anyway? By remembering your place. Remember this: the contempt you harbor for the most difficult person in your life can not amount to the contempt God should have held against you and didn’t.
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13, ESV)
We’re not the only ones that wanted it easier. Jesus knew the urge.
saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me… (Luke 22:42, ESV)
But then he displayed divine humility.
…Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42, ESV)
He carried on.
So Jesus said…”shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” (John 18:11, ESV)
Until it was done.
…he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:30, ESV)
Jesus died for a world full of people marginalized from God. We can’t love with Christ’s perfect atoning power; however, we can love like that.
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8, ESV)
