“My dear, dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.”
~ 1John 4:11-12
One of the hardest thing being a Christian is probably to love people who are hard to love and whom we think don’t deserve to be love! Some of these people might have caused us pain, even if they didn’t mean to or probably didn’t even realized!
Let’s face it – loving someone, can sometimes feel like a sacrifice. The Bible taught us, “since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another…. God lives in us and His love us made complete in us”. We need to understand that all of us have flaws, whether we admit it or not. None of us are perfect or ever will be perfect. Only Jesus alone is perfect. So as we ourselves are being forgiven and accepted into the beloved by grace, we should also extend this beautiful grace we have received to others, whether they are believers or not.
Let us pray to God and ask God to help us learn of people’s story. While we take time to learn of other’s life story, that also gives us a chance to share the gospel of love to them. Let us as believers, pray for those who seemed hard to be loved, that the Lord will in His perfect time and ways, can minister to these people and change them inwardly. Let us also pray to God for ourselves, that we will have a more compassionate heart towards others; to have the heart to bless even those who are hard to love.
As believers, we know the greatest commandment we need to obey is to love God and to love people. Let us draw on His Word, rest in His Love, choosing to love because His Love is alive in us!
Prayer: Dear Lord, I can love because I know I am love by You. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.