When I play pickleball with my son, we both go all out.
Pickleball is America’s fastest growing sport according to USA Pickleball, and it is easy enough to learn that our whole family can play together. It is fun to watch our children play with full effort, and I am thankful that our local pickleball court has padded walls. My teenage son, in particular, would rather hit the wall than miss the ball.
I thought of my son’s fully extended effort this week while I was reading 1 Peter 4:8. “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly…”
The word “earnestly” pulsed in my mind all day. Do I love earnestly? What does it look like to love earnestly?
It means “wholly stretched out.” That surprised me. It reminded me of pickleball, when my son dove for a ball, and it seemed like he left his feet behind him, flew through the air, and caught the ball with his paddle mere centimeters from the court.
He was definitely in earnest. He was wholly stretched out. He was completely taut, at his maximum potential, and without slack because fully extended to a necessary outcome. He didn’t care about the personal cost of a skinned knee or nose!
And it paid off. I lost every game!
But, I still wondered: Do I love my family like that? Do I love my church family like that? Am I wholly stretched out?
It’s popular today to approach ministry, work, and homelife with balance. Being burnt out, overwhelmed, or burdened are seen as negative things. We all nod and smile about people needing breaks or sabbaticals. (I took one just last January!) While there is certainly a place for rest, Peter’s directive to the church doesn’t leave room for half-hearted love.
If we view loving earnestly as a task to be completed, a box to be checked, or a necessary evil to be endured, it will never be achieved.
Loving earnestly doesn’t come naturally for anyone. The only way to love earnestly is to ask Jesus for strength to go all out.
It will take sweat. It will take concentration. It will take tears. Sometimes, it will take blood.
If that sounds familiar, that’s because it is how Jesus loved us. He was wholly stretched out on the cross, His arms open, muscles taut, every fiber of His eternal being extended to the necessary outcome.
Jesus loved us. Earnestly. He commands us to love one another. Earnestly.
It is a daunting task. I’ll bet that right now you’re listing all of the people to whom this command does not apply or perhaps all the reasons why you aren’t able to obey this command.
But that won’t work. Peter told his audience, “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking.”
We’ve been called to go all out in our love for one another, and unlike on the pickleball court, when we do, everyone wins.
Sarah Dixon Young 