Song of Songs 8:6-7 Love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away.
God desires that we love Him with all our heart, our soul and our mind. After this He directs us to love our neighbor as our self. Love is what a Christian is called to do in all walks of life. Your pastor has been called to this love as well. He involves himself in your lives. He shepherds you in the direction of Jesus Christ. This is no small task. His love exposes him to those who know no love. It makes him vulnerable to the sufferings of others. The Apostle Paul speaks of his vulnerability in serving the church at Corinth: "I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep...I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches [the people]. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? “(2 Corinthians 11:27-29)
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The
alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside heaven where you will be perfectly safe from all dangers and perturbations of love is hell.” (The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis)
Do not fall into the trap of being discriminating with your love. The tragedy of life is when love is not shared with God and others. It's all too easy to become selfish with love when you consider others who are different than you in one or many ways.
Reformed Theological Seminary, 1994.
