Simple isn't always simple

Two things. I can handle that. Sounds simple enough.

Love God. Love others.

That is it boiled down. Two things that we are to do. If you love God, it will show in the way you love others. You don't want to love others, then you aren't loving God. Again, it isn't that complicated.

We want it complicated. We want to be able to hide behind the complexity. If we layer enough conditions on there, we can make it sound good without having to really do both of those things. It is easy to love God most of the time. He is perfect. Others - not so much. They annoy us. They let us down. They break our trust. They take and don't give. We want an exception to loving those people. The strange thing is we are those people. I annoy other people. I will let you down. I will be selfish. So of course I want a different set of rules for me. Others need to love, but I want to pick and choose who I will love. Sorry, it doesn't work that way.

So the question is how are you doing in loving others? That is God's scale. It isn't whether we have perfect attendance at church, whether we read the Bible daily, whether we pray for 30 minutes a day (hours if you are a "prayer warrior"), it isn't about any of those things we put on our checklist. God says if you love me I will see it in the way you love others. We don't get to live in isolation. We are suppose to love in the middle of the mess of life. So again, how are you doing in loving others? Feeling brave today, then ask those around you in the messiness of life how you are doing. No excuses or being defensive if they tell you aren't loving them well. Just learn how to love them.

Two things. How hard could it be?