Love debt

Being a Christian is hard, because it's more about motivation than action.

I ran head-long into that unfortunate truth this morning as I read this from Romans 13: 8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Easy, right? The only thing I owe anybody is to love them. Wait, what? Owe means obligation; owe means I'm behind and in debt until I pony up.

It's not enough to act nice? It's not enough to tolerate dog doo, body piercings, noisy sub-woofers, cigarette butts? I owe them love? Owe, as in they have a right to it and I have no right to withhold it?

I don't like that. That means I can't call people morons no matter how badly they drive. I can't look down on them no matter how stupid they seem to me. I can't smugly judge; I can't simply tolerate. Love is not a neutral word, it's the opposite: it's extreme.

But Jesus calls us to be extreme. He calls us to love the least lovable (after all, he loves me, right?) In fact, Paul says here you can't fulfill the law without loving people. 

There are a bunch of people around here that I don't love. I guess the first step is to act like I do, and the next step is to pray that I will. Or maybe the other way around. Maybe if I see them through God's eyes, love will be easier.