Love is risky. Most of us can remember times when we took a risk to express love to someone – whether that was dialing that number, hanging up, dialing again, hanging up or facebook stalking someone and feeling your heart beat a little faster as you pushed the like button on their post. Love in motion is always risky. It always requires us to move from safe to sacrificial. Love in motion says I will sacrifice my own comfort and preference so that others have a chance of knowing how much they matter and are cared for.
Read Acts 16:16-34. Paul and Silas were put into prison and in the middle of the night, an earthquake happened, the doors opened and they were free! The jailor went to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped, and Paul had the choice to keep quiet or to take a risk and show love to the jailor. Paul chose to offer love to a guy who didn’t deserve it, without any guarantee that his act of love would be reciprocated with anything but more beatings and more time behind bars. Paul took a risk and a whole family was saved that night. Loving our enemies will always be risky and their will be times when it doesn’t turn out well. If we are waiting for a time when loving our enemies is without risk, we will miss hundreds of opportunities for love to break through and win the day.
For Today: Rate yourself (1 to 10) on how much of a risk taker you are when it comes to showing love to people. What would it take for you to move one number higher on the risk scale? Make a list of things that you could do to express love, care, or compassion to someone that is difficult to love. These things could range from praying for them, not avoiding them when you see them, to buying them coffee and meet with them. Identify one risky step for you and get in motion today.