God taught us to love and loving is a daily process requiring lots of physical and conscious effort. To show I love my wife, I have to remind her, I have to shower her with gifts, I have to kiss, hold, caress her, and sacrifice to her daily. Sometimes I have to do the things I don’t want to do to show her I love her. In other words, love is not always easy and love is work – hard work.<\/p>\n
Since love is hard work how does God show us He constantly loves us if there is no work that is too hard for him<\/em>? I know he sent his only Son to die in the cross for us but that was a one time sacrifice yet for me to love someone is a daily\u00a0sacrifice, a process, and a life’s mission. Is God\u00a0sacrificing\u00a0for me and working that hard for me? Or is my concept of love entirely wrong and its not suppose to be hard work at all?<\/p>\n\t First, you make an invalid comparison. You decided that because love is an effort on your part; therefore, it is an effort on everyone’s part. That is not a proof, merely anecdotal information. Love is defined in I Corinthians 13:4-8 and is shown in the character a person displays even when the person being loved isn’t so lovable. Love is also the willingness to give of oneself. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends<\/em>” (John 15:13).<\/p>\n In essence, you are turning this around by asking what is God doing for me. That is actually a selfish question, thinking that love only exists if you agree and you only agree if you see it being done.<\/p>\n God displays all the characteristics of love by working for your salvation, despite all that you do, intentionally or accidentally, to snub Him. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another<\/em>” (I John 4:7-11).<\/p>\n How much do you value your salvation, a promise of heaven, the guidance God gives, the protection that He offers, etc.? To insist that only your concept of love be met is a falsehood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: God taught us to love and loving is a daily process requiring lots of physical and conscious effort. To show I love my wife, I have to remind her, I have to shower her with gifts, I have to kiss, hold, caress her, and sacrifice to her daily. Sometimes I have to do the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[90,65],"class_list":["post-25924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-god","tag-love"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20041,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-still-confused-as-to-what-love-is-is-it-a-feeling-an-action-or-both\/","url_meta":{"origin":25924,"position":0},"title":"I’m still confused as to what love is. Is it a feeling, an action, or both?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was reading over\u00a0the email you sent me a while back and I understand what love is but at the same time, I don't. I know what is but I feel it's hard to explain. Love is like faith, it isn't an action but without action, it is basically\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41520,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-propose\/","url_meta":{"origin":25924,"position":1},"title":"Should I propose?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have read some of your answers as regards marriage and making the right choice. I have always prayed to God to give me His perfect will. I have a girl I truly love -- we both love each other -- and I want to get married to her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91596,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/love-your-neighbor-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":25924,"position":2},"title":"Love Your Neighbor (Moyer)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Jesus taught that the two greatest commandments are first, to love God with all the heart, soul, strength, and might, and second, to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:36-40). These commandments are the basis for everything else God commands. It's not hard to see in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86901,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/take-your-only-son\/","url_meta":{"origin":25924,"position":3},"title":"Take Your Only Son","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The test for Abraham was a type of the test that God Himself would undergo. In Abraham's case, offering his only son, Isaac, was a test of his love for God. Would he trust and love God above his emotional attachment to his only son? Even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91872,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-false-measure-of-goodness\/","url_meta":{"origin":25924,"position":4},"title":"A False Measure of Goodness","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Clay Gentry At a recent funeral, the preacher acknowledged that the deceased had never attended church, nor was he particularly religious. \"Still, he was saved,\" the preacher said, \"because he trusted Jesus when he was young.\" Rather than showing evidence of a transformed life, the preacher highlighted three aspects\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58880,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-life-defined-by-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":25924,"position":5},"title":"A Life Defined by Love","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Corinthians 16:13-14 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The story of Ruth is a popular love story from the Bible \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It isn\u2019t how most people see as a typical love story. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0She doesn\u2019t go out searching for love but she eventually finds it anyway \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rather, we see the story\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25924\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Answer:<\/h2>\n