I Just Love People too Much

These past few month's I've had quite a few conversations that went something like this, "I don't know, I just think I love people too much." The first time I heard that I thought, "Can you really love people too much?" So I meditated on it, prayed on it and came to a conclusion... no.

Hear me out,

In high school I remember using this phrase quite a bit. I told myself, you just love people too much, you just give too much of yourself, you need to stop giving to people / loving people who don't give anything / love you back. What? Did God not do all those things and more, and does He not call us to be like Him? The truth is that we are not loving people enough. At least not with Christ's love.

• "But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness." Psalm 86:15 That's Christ's love!
• "Give thanks to the God of heaven, for His steadfast love endures forever." Psalm 136:26 That's Christ's love!
• "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 That's Christ's love!
• "God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8 That's Christ's love!
• " For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39 That's Christ's love!
• "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved." Ephesians 2:4-5 That's Christ's love!

The reality is that unless we are loving them with a perfect love like Christ's we can always love them more.

Unless you sent your Son to be a living sacrifice for those who may never love you. Unless your body was laid out on a cross with nails pierced through your hands and feet. Unless you were given sour wine to drink and had a spear driven through your side. Unless you stole the keys of hell to set the captives free and rose again on the third day because of love, then you can always love more.

Let me repeat that, you can always love more.

There's a song I am going to post at the end that hit me so hard. The song sings about God's love for us but the lyrics that hit me the most are where it says, "Oh the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. Oh it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine. I couldn't earn it, I don't deserve it still You gave Yourself away...There's no shadow You won't light up, mountain You won't climb up coming after me. There's no wall You won't kick down, no lie You won't tear down coming after me." Am I loving that way? Are you loving that way? If we are honest with ourselves the answer is "no". Then we are not loving enough. So grip the reality that when we say we need to "stop loving people so much" we are choosing to stop loving them as Christ calls us to love them. And as He has loved us. And that is a scary place to be.

God doesn't call us to love people when it's easy, He doesn't call us to love them when they reciprocate that feeling, nor does He call us to love them until we are tired of loving them. No, He just simply calls us to love them. Not in measurements of maximum capacity but in overwhelming seas of grace upon grace just as He has loved.

The problem doesn't fall in loving people too much, the problem falls in allowing a sinful human to take God's place and then laying an expectation on them that can only be fulfilled by our Savior. Those, my sweet reader, are two very very different things.

So stop withholding love. Love fearlessly. Love passionately. Love in pursuit for their soul. Stop counting how much and just simply love.

Amen? Amen.


Reckless Love - Bethel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKooXwwk6bs