Are you willing to put in the hard work?

So this entry was inspired by two converstions I had in the last 24hrs. This morning I was talking with my cousin about getting back into shape. We talked about all the hard work, cardio, deiting, and other sacrifices that are needed to be made to get where we want to be. Last night I had a conversation with a friend and we talked about how do we get to where God wants us to be? My answer to her was God gave us two commands; Luke 10:27- Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. So I summed it up to my friend that we need to fall in love with Jesus first then our neighbors second. I told my friend that her main focus should first to fall in love with Jesus. She asked how does she do that? I told her that it's not always easy and that it takes work.
So why did I start off with talking about getting into shape? Because just like getting into shape, learning to fall in love with Jesus takes some hard work. There are sacrifices and things that you might not want to do but they need to happen if you want to fall in love with Jesus. We pray, we read his word, and we try our best to live our lives like him. And that's not easy. It takes time and effort to do these things. I know we all have busy lives and our time is limitted but what's really important to you? Like I told my friend, you don't have to read the bible or pray just like if your trying to get into shape you don't have to diet or workout but don't expect to get the results you are looking for. We as Christians can think about how much we love God and say that we want to fall in love with him but are we putting in the work that is needed? If you want to fall in love with Jesus we need to talk with him daily, we need to read his word and find out what he's all about and what he has and wants from us. So my prayer for us is that we take the time, put in the "hard work" to fall in love with Jesus, not because we have to but because our lives will be blessed for it and most important, HE'S WORTH IT!