How hard can it be to love Jesus? After all he has never done anything but good for me. He tells me to love God with all my heart, soul, and mind and to love my neighbor as myself-(Matthew 22:36-40) which sounds simple enough. After all, I try to be a decent, moral, God loving person. However, it may be just a little harder than it first appears.

Consider the following:

• It is easy to love my enemies, until I actually have one (Matthew 5:44).
• It is easy to forgive, until someone breaks my heart (Matthew 6:14-15).
• It is easy to suffer for the cause of Christ, until someone tries to crush me (1 Peter 3:14).
• It is easy to sing, “I Surrender All,” until I have to give up something or someone I hold dear (Luke 14:33).
• It is easy to believe in church discipline, until it is my family member needing disciplined (2 Thessalonians 3:6).
• It is easy to let my light shine before men, until someone criticizes my light for being too bright (Matthew 5:16).
• It is easy to be in submission to my husband, until he asks me to do something I don’t want to do (1 Peter 3:1).
• It is easy to bear a brother’s burdens, until they get too heavy (Galatians 6:2).
• It is easy to say, “I would die for the Lord,” until I have to demonstrate that I am willing living for Him (Galatians 2:20).

So when you think about it, the test of loving God and your neighbor may be much more difficult than it sounds. The true test of discipleship is being willing to walk faithfully with the Lord no matter how difficult that walk may be. (John 14:15).