Articles
Love and Onions
Growing up, I was a picky eater. There were many things I did not like to eat. Onions were just one of them. But I really didn’t like onions. However, as I grew older, my preferences in food changed and I began to be more adventurous. In high school, I discovered that fried onions dipped in creamy sauce were quite tasty. From there, I learned that onions could be good on a lot of things. I started to eat onions and discovered they are actually quite good. This was, I thought, the ultimate proof that I had become an adult.
I don’t eat onions today, though.
A few years into college, I started dating Bonnie. We had been friends before, but once we started dating, it didn’t take me long to realize I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. As a child, she disdained onions even more than I did. Unlike me, she didn’t really grow out of that. Her distaste for them surpassed anything I could have previously imagined. They churned her stomach. It was almost like an allergy. Even a small chunk of onion could make her sick.
Given the way she reacted to them, it isn’t surprising that she developed a sort of onion-radar. No matter how small the pieces were sliced or how well they were hidden, she could sense their presence. Her radar extended beyond her food. If I had an onion, she knew it. Brushing my teeth didn’t help. There was no masking what I had done. In fact, sometimes she could still sense them a day or two later.
The last thing I wanted was to have breath that sickened the girl I loved. So, I made the only logical choice. I quit eating onions. Forever. And you know what, I don’t mind one bit. I don’t complain about it. I don’t try to sneak some into my diet (though she is able to tolerate them much more than she used to). I gladly sacrificed them for her sake. Not because I hated them, but because she did. That’s what love does.
In the same way, Christians who deeply love God will not only change their behavior but they’ll do so cheerfully.
When we give, we will do so cheerfully. Why? Because God loves a cheerful giver (II Cor. 9:7). No doubt, we could have found some other way to spend that money on ourselves. Or maybe we could complain about the collection, feeling like it has been forced upon us. We could still give, but inwardly feel regret and resentment as we give. That would be like me giving up onions, but reminding Bonnie at every meal of my great sacrifice and how much she has ruined meals for me. That isn’t the way love behaves, is it?
When we love God, our ambition will be to please Him (II Cor. 5:9). Sure, we could grudgingly give up sin. We could, with regret, look back at sacrifices we were forced to make. We could long for “the good ol’ days,” but that isn’t the way love behaves.
If we are struggling with sin or with a bad attitude, maybe we should take some time to reflect on what God means to us. We should consider how important He is and how wonderfully He has treated us. We should remember how much we want to spend an eternity with Him. We should build our love for Him. Because love like that changes everything.
