Anybody But Them!

“If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?

Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  

And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?

Do not even pagans do that?  

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Matthew 5:46-48

We all have people in our lives who are easier to love than others and we certainly all have people in our lives that make the command to love seem like

cruel and unusual punishment.

So what do we do?

Let me give you five common sense things to do when you struggle to love the unlovely:

1. Look in the Mirror, i.e. Examine yourself

So often we judge others but miss the ‘unlovely’ parts of our own lives. One of the strongest ways to love the unlovely is to recognize that sometimes you “fit the bill” too!

2. Ask God to help you

You can be sure if God has called us to love our neighbors as ourselves, (and He has) then He will help us to do just that. When God said that, He knew very well that all my neighbors would not be ‘lovely’ and not a1l of them would be my friends!

3. Start at home

Am I saying everyone in your home is difficult to love? No, but sometimes the home can be the ‘incubator’ for what God wants to expand in your life after you step out the front door and face the rest of the world.

4. Crawl before you walk

Maybe you don’t start with Public Enemy #1, or the person who pushes all your buttons. Maybe you ask God for help to deal with that person who pushes just one button regularly. Start there.

5. Memorize 1 Corinthians Chapter 13

Let this chapter serve as a lamp to your feet and a light to your path on the road to learning how to love as Christ loves. If the last time you heard it quoted was at a wedding, dust off your Bible and read it, meditate on it and memorize it. 

Obviously, this list can be longer but why not start here.

If you succeed at all five, then add a sixth and a seventh and so on. Remember what we said yesterday – God is on your side and He wants to see you succeed in growing into the image of His Son.

That includes loving as Jesus loves.

How lovely were you when He saved you?

Yep, that’s what I thought.

Me too!