We’ve been in Serbia for a little over a week. During this time, we’ve had to step out of our comfortable spaces and act with humbleness. It hasn’t been easy sharing testimonies, talking to strangers, facing rejection, having hard conversations, walking for miles, serving others, missing family, missing friends, being constantly surrounded, yet feeling lonely. A teammate confessed, If we love God, shouldn’t this be easy?
There’s a misconception that love makes things easy. That when your actions are motivated by love, it’s easy to move mountains, overcome obstacles, keep promises. According to DL Moody, a well-known American evangelist, “Faith makes all things possible. Love makes them easy.” There’s another quote I prefer,
“Love makes things possible, not easy.” – Sam Gayton (children’s author, not a renowned Christian theologian)
And I wouldn’t want it to be easy. I want it to cost something, to show that it’s worth the cost. I don’t want someone to be around because it’s easy. Love can be difficult, it can be demanding. It requires self-sacrifice. I want the kind of love that stays when it’s hard; when it’s the middle of a battle, and there’s arrows flying past, and I’m crouched down in the corner and they say, “I’m not leaving without you.”
When I’m serving God, I don’t want it to always be easy and comfortable. I want it to cost me, to show that He’s worth the cost. I want it to cost my comfort, my pride, the need to be accepted, the need to be understood. Because it means more when it’s hard and I can still say I love you.
