Mom, John keeps copying me. No Mom, Joseph is copying me. Stop it! No you stop it! You’re mean! No you’re mean! AHHH! If you have little kids you can relate to this kind of dialogue. My wife and I spend every day trying to do the best we can to raise our kids to be good people, but the process can be exhausting. Despite the bad times, I do forget about all of the bad when they come running up to me to give me a hug and tell me they love me.
Jesus and His apostles had a similar experience when they were trying to take a break and rest for awhile. The people sought them out and when Jesus saw the crowd, He looked at them with love and went back out and taught them many things. As a parent, I can say for sure that the love for my children greatly outweighs the pain, suffering, inconvenience, and lack of rest that they put me through. Jesus loves us so much and feels the same love for us except to a greater degree.
Maybe the greatest form of love is sacrificial love. We all have things that we want to do, but sacrificial love is putting those wants aside and attending to the needs of someone else. I could stay busy all day doing things that I want to do, but I put those needs aside sometimes and attend to the needs of my family. Sacrificial love can even take us to our death. Jesus loved us so much that He died so that we may one day live in heaven with Him.
The road to heaven is narrow and rough and the road to destruction is wide and smooth. Too many people do what they want to do most of the time despite how it affects others. If we are finding that life is too easy and enjoyable, we might want to double check what road we are on.
