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The Difficulty of Love
2 Corinthians 2:4
"For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you."
In the verse above, the Apostle Paul explains to the church of Corinth how hard it was for him to write the previous epistle. He explained that the epistle caused him much grief, but he did it because he loved them and wanted them to correct their sinful ways. He was simply saying that his love, as difficult as it was, caused him to write the epistle in the manner that it was written.
Sometimes love is not easy. Quite often we think when we love someone that we will never hurt them, but the opposite is true. Sometimes love must be firm, and even hurtful, all for the sake of trying to salvage the one who is loved. God loves us, and yet He must punish us when we do wrong. Is it easy for God to punish His children? Absolutely not! In fact, His love pushes Him to be longsuffering with the hope that we will come back to Him before He must administer punishment.
A parent who punishes their child often finds it difficult to do so. Most parents love their children and would never want to hurt them; however, there are times when a child must be punished. A parent who never punishes their child for doing wrong does not have much love for that child. Though it is difficult, it must be done to salvage the child from doing things that will cause greater harm and bring greater punishment to them in the future.
Likewise, a leader who loves their follower will find it difficult administer punishment, but if they truly love them then punishment will be administered when a follower does wrong. For instance, a pastor who allows sin to go unpunished is a pastor who does not have much love for his church members. Likewise, a school teacher who does not administer punishment to the student who does wrong is a school teacher who does not have much love for that student. Proverbs 3:12 proves this point when it says, "For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth." Love corrects those who do wrong.
True love not only is gentle, but true love is also tough at times so that in the end it may bring happiness to those whom it is placed upon. Be careful not to fall into Satan's trap of thinking that because we love someone we don't want to hurt them by administering punishment. True love will be tough at the times when it needs to be tough no matter how hard it may be on the person whom you must correct or punish.
Let me take this one step further and address the one who has been punished. Don't let punishment cause you to become bitter. Realize that punishment was administered out of a love to keep you from experiencing greater heartache down the road. Though at the present it was unpleasant, if you will realize that it was administered with love, then you will keep punishment from causing you to become bitter.
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