Determine to Love
set of abilities for the thing to which he has called you—service in his kingdom of glory and grace. So What’s Love Got to Do with It? Perhaps you’re reading along and you’re thinking, “But, Paul, I thought this was a chapter on love and all you’re talking about is the hardship of being chosen by God to live and mature in this broken-down house. I’m lost.” Well, here’s the connection. It has to do with the fact that the basic condition of hardship that you face in life—the pain and difficulty and challenge and uncertainty—is also faced in various ways by everyone else on the planet. So let me say it again: life in this fallen world is hard. Preparation is hard. Change is hard. It is very easy to get discouraged. It is very easy to feel overwhelmed. It is very easy to remain or revert to being self-focused and self-absorbed. It is very easy to feel alone. It is very easy to think that no one understands what you are going through. It is very easy to think that God must have gotten a wrong address; that this trial couldn’t have been intended for your doorstep. It is very easy to give in to wondering if following God is worth it. It is very easy to look over the fence and yield to debilitating envy. It is very easy to begin to let go of good and godly habits. It is very easy to try to numb or distract yourself by whatever temporary pleasure is within reach. It is very easy to try to convince yourself that you are godlier than you are and therefore less in need of change than you actually are. It is very easy to hit those moments when you lose your way and just want to give up. Life in the fallen world is hard. That is why God, in his love, has designed for us not to be left in this broken-down house alone, but to live here with others in a community of love. When I read 1 Peter 1, I am always struck by how God has placed a call to love at the end of a discussion of hardship. As Peter summarizes what God is doing in the here and now he uses three words, “suffer, grief, and trial.” None of
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