I have often thought that the quick willingness to love was a fault.

Sure, it can get me into one too many scrapes, but I don’t have the disposition to do anything drastic with it. All I end up doing is plastering names on my walls with the glue of my thoughtful heart. Which is not ideal, and thankfully not often.

I see the beauty in every situation and I also see the beauty in every person. I am an unrelenting optimist. How can you not love when you see the best? And how can you not love when you know Jesus sees beauty in everything you cannot?

Fleeting affections can get the best of me but it’s often because in that area I can be an all-or-nothing. Connections converge and everything seems just right and I forget the beauty of God and then when I remember his romances I condemn myself at having a remarkably fickle heart that just will love at the dip of a gentleman’s hat. Whatever love means in that case.

But the quick willingness to love is not a fault.

If so, Jesus’ willingness to die for us humans would be viewed as weakness. Coming down from heaven for the uncertainty of our love looks stupid. Everyone knows that you can’t count on a human with a choice! Yet his willingness is what glorified him. We admire that Jesus was willing to do the Father’s will for the sake of love. Even when he did not see each individual person that would live out in this world.

Yet Jesus had unwavering confidence in the redemption power of God. He knew that if he asked for his Bride, that his Father would make it happen. Jesus just needed to be willing to sacrifice. He just needed to be willing to love.

Opening up your heart is too easy for some, and remarkably hard for others. Some must learn to guard themselves and others must learn to be open and vulnerable. It’s difficult. It’s hard. You can get hurt. But love is not the problem there. Love directed away from Jesus is. I can persuade myself that I’m fulfilling the second commandment by loving other people, but sometimes I really have ignored the first. I was not called to ignore. I am called to adore. Adore God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.

So may I be filled with an uneasiness over my affections until everything is focused towards eternity. I have conquered much by the grace of God. Oh I’ve discovered the Great Commandment and pulled my generation into greater love as well. But as I jump into this next season I want my willingness to love to be channelled to the right place. The heart of God. Not focused on my efforts but his overwhelming efforts in redeeming us.

There, in God’s heart, everything else will follow. For there is not fault to be found in him.