Do I Have to Love Others If It’s Inconvenient?

The fast food restaurant was crowded, noisy.

Workers moved at more of a run than a walk as they tried to keep up.

The guy cleaning tables and returning trays stopped at the food pick up window and said something to the woman behind the counter.

She heard him. I know she did. I was twice as far away and I heard him. 

“Didn’t think they were gonna win the football game yesterday. Did you?”

She looked down at the counter.  She pretended not to hear him.

“That’s lousy”, I thought.  “Why is she ignoring him?  Is there some sort of status thing going on here?  Don’t the people behind the counter talk to the people cleaning the tables?”

 “Well”, I decided righteously, (or was that self-righteously?) “I’ll be different.  I’ll show her how to love others.”

As he walked by me, I said, “Some game yesterday.  Did you see the last play?”

He made a quick comment and kept moving.

If I was self-righteous before, I was self-satisfied now.

“There”, I thought to a completely approving audience of one, “See how nice I was to him?  That’s the way to love others.”

As I picked up my food, he was back.  “Shouldn’t have won”, he said, and moved on.

I walked to a table.  He followed behind me.

“What did you think of the field goal?“ he asked.  “Wasn’t it awesome?  That’s why we won.  That’s why we won.”

I sat down.  He stood at the next table, wiping it and wiping it with his rag until no crumb or piece of dirt could have hidden there.

He mostly stared at me, but every once in a while, he’d blurt out a quick short sentence about the game.

I wanted him to go away…

 I wanted to eat my lunch in peace…

I wanted this conversation to end.

It was fine to love others, but this conversation was becoming inconvenient.

Really?  “Inconvenient”?

What does “inconvenient” mean?

Does it mean that I want to be nice to others as long as they play by my rules?

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Does it mean that I want to love others as long as it doesn’t take any effort?

It’s a good thing Christ didn’t feel that way about what God asked him to do on Calvary…

Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”