The Longview of Love

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times” (Matthew 18:21-22, NIV).

Sometimes I think we act as if we know what long-suffering and patience is if we are able to hold our tongue for 30 minutes; that we know what grace is when we forgive the guy for cutting in line; that we know what selflessness is when we give the TV remote to that family member knowing they are going to watch something you have absolutely no interest in.

Perhaps for some people those are real accomplishments. But I am trying to make a point here: that I think we have set the bar for loving our neighbor as ourselves real low.

Love is a long investment. The returns are not always immediate. Sometimes love requires heavy cost up front…and what happens next looks like you were crazy to pay such a cost.

Growing in love often seems to feel like it brings more struggle than blessing. But As God continues to prune and shape us through the ebb and flow of trials, tragedies, and travails of life, He is not thinking only about the fruit that will be produced today or tomorrow or even this season; He is looking years ahead—even to the end when we will be perfected.

As we are learning to love others the way God loves us, we need to have a similar long view. We often have the expectation that God will help us get out from under our struggles and challenges in 30 minutes or less. But life is not like the Cosby Show. It is more like that ten-part miniseries Gracepoint where the central problem took the length of the series to untangle and ended with new and more difficult problems after the main mystery was solved.