Anybody can love when it's easy.

Love is not easy. Giving and receiving it means sacrifice. Every. Time.

I've heard that "I love you" means to accept people as who they are without trying to change them. I agree that I alone cannot change the people I love. But "I love you" does not mean seeing the people you love doing, thinking, or feeling self-destructive things and leaving them "as they are." I should never attempt to force, coerce, or manipulate someone to change. But I can show them God's standard and God's love, point them to the One who CAN produce change in them. If I am doing, saying, or acting ways that are bad for me, that lead me away from God (who is the Source of everything good), I hope and pray someone loves me enough to help me, to lovingly point out what they see as destructive, and to help me find the strength to seek God's healing.

The willingness to be corrected by others in order to become like Jesus (that is to be better able to be loving toward others) is called HUMILITY. Without humility, the sanctification process of the believer completely halts.

The willingness to confront others in truth, humility, and gentleness in order to lead them to Jesus (that is to be better able to be in a more loving, healthy, effective relationship with Jesus) is called LOVE. Only humble love allows us to see the sin, destructiveness, bad habits, annoying idiosyncrasies, and character flaws of the people around us and not criticize, but restore;
not judge, but empathize;
not look down on, but bow low to serve;
not add to their weight, but stoop underneath and lift them up.

"Love your neighbor as yourself" sums it up. I love myself enough to hope that I become better over time. Only a self-absorbed, self-focused, self-loathing person would be so satisfied with everything about himself that he would never want to change, grow, develop, mature. Is it wrong or selfish to hope for my husband, family, children, friends, neighbors, church family the same things that I hope for myself for? No! That is what love it, granted the things you want for yourself are good, healthy, God-glorifying things.

The author of Hebrews warns us to not become "dull of hearing"(5:1), to not be ok with stagnating in our faith but to go on to maturity (6:1), to desire to be mature in the deeper things of the faith (6:11).

In our "loving" society, where we are pushed to tolerate, accept, love people where they are, and not attempt to enhance anyone's life with knowledge of the truth. I believe real love has been replaced with a watered-down, fake, self-protecting version. Even among the church, this view has penetrated, transforming our effectiveness in being able to share the gospel with others and our effectiveness at being transformed ourselves by the Word and correction from the people in our lives.

Love is not easy. Giving and receiving it means sacrifice. Every. Time.

Anyone can love when it's easy. But when the going gets tough and you can keep on giving, keep on forgiving, keep on meeting people where they are, keep on being willing to hear correction with "sharp ears," that's where God's supernatural love is displayed. That's when His power takes over. That's the moment we choose to fight the natural desire to be angry or push away or turn on others or pout or complain or deny.

"When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:11-13 ESV)