Hey, guys. Have you had a good April? Ours has been a little hectic with travels and birthdays coming up, but it’s been fun too. A good kind of hectic. The youngest is four now and the oldest is about to be eight. They’re huge now, which is crazy to think of but exciting to watch too.

How was your Easter? Thinking of Jesus’ death and resurrection stuck a little deeper for me this year. I’m not quite sure why, but I’m happy it did. 

Jesus was the perfect example of loving your neighbor. As should be expected really. God is love. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is love. He is our perfect example for life. And the way He interacted with people is no exception. He even forgave the people who betrayed Him. Before they even knew exactly what they’d done. 

It’s easy to love people you agree with or people you don’t know anything about. But it’s harder to always show love to the people you know you disagree with. God does though. Jesus does. Jesus chose the ones who people least expected to be chosen by God. The ones people would assume He’d disagree with most. Sinful people. But we’re all sinful. 

And yet God chooses us. Over and over, He chooses us. He continues to love us. Even when we’re at our most difficult to love. He chooses us out of love. He laid down His life for us out of love. 

There’s never a time when He hasn’t chosen us. He chooses us every time. 

Think of when Jesus was praying in Gethsemane. He asks His disciples to wait with Him. They fall asleep. And when He’s arrested they all leave Him. Which is exactly what He said they would do just hours before at the Last Supper. And they all, of course, said “no I would never leave You.” But they do. And He knew. And He still chose the cross. He still chose love. Even when the very people He loved, the ones He called His best friends, left Him in His darkest hour. He still chose to love them more than His own life. 

He still loves us more than His own life. Even knowing what we’ll do.

This is why we celebrate Easter. And why we’re called to love our neighbors. Even to love our enemies. Because while we were still God’s enemies, He sent His Son for us. He chose us. He chose love for us. Over Himself. Over anything else. 

My brother told me once that we often judge ourselves based on our intentions and others based on their results. And he’s right. I can understand my own actions much more easily than someone else’s. I’m in my own head. I was there for the reasoning. I wasn’t there for someone else’s reasoning. I only see their results and fill in as it makes sense to me, regardless of what made sense to them at the time. Regardless of their actual reasoning.

God is our example. I don’t know about you, but I fail the commandment to love my neighbor frequently. My love, much as I don’t want it to be, proves itself to be conditional over and over. I am humanly fickle. I don’t want to be though. Since I’ve noticed this about myself, I don’t like it. I might fight against the reminder to choose love, but I still try to choose it anyway. Even if I fail repeatedly.

I want to choose to love the people I disagree with because God chooses to love me even when I disagree with Him. And my offense against Him is greater than the offense against me that I don’t want to forgive. 

Choose to love your neighbor. Even when they feel more like your enemy. Choose to love them the same way God chooses to love you. Every time. Seventy times seven times. Even when it feels like the last thing you want to do. Remind yourself that they’re also God’s creation. Beloved by Him. Forgiveness is extended to them too.

Difficulty forgiving others, difficulty loving others, they’re both very human responses. And God isn’t expecting perfection. Thankfully. Otherwise why even have the cross? Jesus said the work of salvation was finished with His payment. Now we’re in the transforming work. God wants better for us so He gives it to us. And He also understands that we’re going to suck at it. But He chooses us anyway. 

And He’s done this all throughout history. I was reading Ezra recently and in chapter 9, Ezra discovers that the Israelites are falling into idolatry again. The same sin that got them exiled in the first place. They’re within 100 years of return. Within two generations. And they fall right back into the same sin that caused all their trouble in the first place. It’s really easy to question how they could so easily fall right back into the same sin that God saved them from. But how quickly do we fall back into the same sin? Within the same year? Sometimes within the same day even?

But God is the God of history. He knew everything would happen. And He still chose to give the Israelites another chance. God chooses to love us even when we least deserve it. And He asks us to do the same. To love others the way He loves us. To forgive others the way He forgives us. 

Love your neighbor. The neighbor who disagrees with you. The neighbor who annoys you. The neighbor who gets on your last nerve every single time you see them. The one who seems to differ from you in every way. Choose to love them when you don’t understand their actions. Serve them when you want to be angry with them. Treat them the same way God treats you. With undeserved love. Every time. Because God loved us first.