Gritty. Demanding. Difficult. Inconvenient.

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The following post is borrowed from Laban Cook's blog.

Love. It isn’t about rainbows and bunnies. It’s gritty, demanding, difficult, and inconvenient. Jesus said, “…and the second is as great as the first, that you love your neighbor as yourself.” In one simple declaration he made loving your fellow man equal to loving your creator.

It’s simple. But you’ve failed.

You have clipped, trimmed, neutered, and sterilized love into a little valentine. Something given to somebody you like. A hug to your best friend. A smile to someone who’s nice. But it’s more than that. Much, much more. And we’re not talking about the difference between a felon and that bitchy person at church you don’t like. This is more complex. More demanding. It’s a commandment to love every single person that exists.

And though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, I am nothing.

Most likely you’ve spent a great portion of your adult life separating yourself from others. Purifying your life from theirs. Elevating and sanctifying. “I will NOT break bread with you, sir.” You love them so much that you put up huge walls. A nice societal hedgerow that shields you from their crappy existence.

And this is how they will know you, that you love one another.

So as you sail though your clean little evangelical, Anabaptist, or second-Presbyterian-twice-removed world, remember that he did as you ought. Whether the hooker, the cheater, or the traitor, he loved everyone around him. He made everyone better. And he proved it.

Greater love hath no man, than he lay down his life for a friend.

Ironic. This outburst isn’t about love. Nor is it about Jesus. It’s about Christ-ians. It’s about those who subvert the single greatest commandment in a misguided attempt at meeting one thousand nine hundred and forty-seven lesser ones. A grand and grail-like quest of perfection that fails miserably at the throne.

I was hungry and you fed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was in prison and you visited me.

And finally, it’s about hypocrisy. Yours. And mine.
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