| Easy Love and Hard Love - article by Joel Hempel First, there really is no such thing as easy love. It’s just that it is not as hard as hard love. Of course, the kind of love I am talking about is the kind of love God calls us to: Agape or sacrificial love.
Anyone who is a parent knows all about agape love. But it’s easy love because it’s your children you’re sacrificing for. The same is true for a spouse or adult child who is privileged to care for a loved one in need. It’s hard work but easy love.
Then there is the love that starts getting harder. It’s the love of one another, our neighbor, the foreigner, and the difficult person. What’s so hard about this kind of love? If it is agape, self-sacrificing love, it is love that costs us. It is love that requires us to go out of our way, not just once or occasionally, but with ongoing and relentless commitment. It is the love of Jesus that doesn’t quit! You shall love your neighbor as yourself.1 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.2
Every Christian and, therefore, every Christian congregation is called to this kind of love.
When I was young and played baseball, I was a good hitter and a really good home run hitter. But, when I was in my rightfield position, I prayed that the ball was not hit toward me. I was an insecure and unconfident fielder.
When playing our position in the church, God wants us to be practiced and confidently prepared to serve in love, always on the lookout for people in need and opportunities where we can serve.
How is such agape, self-sacrificing love possible? Well, I could quote, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.3 And that would be true. But mostly, Gospel-empowerment has to do with God’s grace. The greater the amount of grace we have received, the more we are motivated to give.
If we want to avoid loving, we should think less about Christ’s sacrifice. For example, we should go to the communion table and distract ourselves from what is going on, and avoid reflecting on Jesus’ sacrifice, the body and blood he gave for us. Then leave the table empty!
Or, instead, we could see Jesus on the cross, his grace covering us, his love forgiving us, and his strength equipping us for the Christian work he has prepared for us.4 1. Mark 12:30-31 2. 1 John 4:7 3. Philippians 4:13 4. Ephesians 2:10 | 
