Confession: I have a love problem.  I struggle in loving others and in loving God.  And as a Christian, this is a problem since the two greatest commandments are to love our God with all our hearts, minds, and souls and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

I know I’m not alone.  I look around and see the evidence everyday.  Many of us who call ourselves Christians are not loving as Jesus loves.  The world sees this and they despise us for it.  

Just this morning, I overheard a lady’s rant about the church, or rather, the people in the church.  Her experience in church has led her to the conclusion that the church’s main goal is to make money.  It’s a business for profit and all churches are the same, despite what they may say.  This is what she believes.  

And yet.  I believe that each one of us has a huge capacity to love greatly, just as Jesus loved.  It’s part of being created in the divine image of God.  

Luke 7 recounts the story of a “sinful” woman who loved Jesus greatly.   Jesus explained that her great love was evidence that her many sins had been forgiven.  Forgiveness of her many sins came before her ability to love greatly.  

Could it be that our ability to love greatly depends entirely on embracing God’s forgiveness for ourselves?  Is it possible that loving greatly happens when we live in a state of continual gratitude towards a God who has not turned away in our failures?  Not thrown us away in our weakness?  A God who is willing to heal our soul sickness rather than condemn it?   

How are you doing at loving others?  Struggling like me? The next time you are having a hard time loving someone, remember how God has forgiven you and see if that creates more room in your heart to love that person.