Itsara

I was reading the end of Joshua the other day. Joshua is old and gives his last speech to the elders of Israel. He reminds them what God has done for them, and admonishes them to remain true to the Lord. Then he says this (emphasis mine):

“The Lord has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you. One of you routs a thousand, because the Lord your God fights for you, just as he promised. So be very careful to love the Lord your God.”

I thought these were powerful words. We don’t normally think of love as something we need to be careful about. We think love is an emotion; it comes and goes as it will, and we are subject to its whims. Or we think love is something that “just happens”, and when it does we’ll do whatever it takes to hold onto it, but until then we’ll just keep looking for it.

True love isn’t any of those things. True love is a choice one makes every single day. I’ve known that for a long time, but I still struggle with it sometimes when these kids – who aren’t even my own – yell and disobey and say they hate me. I still have to love them.

And I have to be careful about it. My gut reaction when somebody disrespects or disobeys is to become angry myself, but that’s not love. I have to be very careful not to do what comes naturally, but rather to love them with my whole being.

Sometimes it’s easier to love God, because God doesn’t often talk back. But it’s difficult when I feel like he’s not around, or when I’m reminded that loving him means loving some real life person whom it is very inconvenient to love right now. It’s something I have to be very, very careful about if I am to do it right.