We all have people in our lives who are easy to love. It is easy to give and show love to these people because it is a give and take relationship. We know that when we show love to them, they will in turn show love to us. Perhaps you can think of a person in your life right now like this - maybe your best friend, a parent, sibling or someone in your church.
It is natural for us to love those who love us. Even those of the world will love those who love in return. Jesus spoke of this in Mt 5:46, "For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?" There is no reward for this kind of love. True love is giving without expecting anything in return.
Jesus talked of loving the poor, loving those who could not return the favor. When He says poor, I do not think this necessarily means in a physical sense. Who is there in your life that is difficult to love? Someone that may not necessarily love you back? What about the awkward person who always seems to say the wrong thing at the wrong time?
Being a teacher, sometimes I am often faced with students that are difficult to love. A student once asked his teacher, "do you love all your students?" Honestly, there are some of my students I don't "feel" like loving. But, wait a minute! Love is not just some fuzzy feeling we get from being around a certain person. Love is a decision. I must make the decision to love that student who tries every possible way to wear out my patience. I must make the decision to love that awkward person others may see as a misfit.
True love is putting others needs ahead of my own. This may not be as difficult to do for some people, but what about the people I really don't like or care for? When we reach this point, we are beginning to show Christlike character. For it was Him who first loved us - just the way we were - poor miserable sinners with nothing to offer.
1 comment:
Love this! I'm experiencing a taste of this with my college roommate. I live in an off-campus apartment with two other girls (that I didn't know before this year). One of them is very easy to get along with: she's neat, quiet and cleans up after herself in the main part of the apartment. The other roommate? Not so much. She has clothes strewn out in the hall, waits a month (literally!) and still doesn't do the dishes in the sink (I get *so* tired of looking at them, I finally wash them), steals my plates and expects me to wash them, ect. For the last couple of months, I've spent a lot of time feeling self-righteous indignation (Seriously? Is it so hard to do your dishes!?!) and complained to anyone who will listen. Finally, a few days ago I was at my wit's end. I was crying out to God, asking Him when "turn the other cheek" becomes "just a doormat who cannot stand up for herself nor loving tell people no". What is the line between loving people where they are and letting them know that certain behaviors really are just completely rude and wrong? The point is that I was trying to justify the absolute irritation I was feeling towards her. Well, God sure spoke to me that night. And He made me realize that he placed me in that position because He was giving me a chance to love unlovely people. I always pray that God will cultivate this in me and give me a chance to exercise this with someone in my life. I guess I just didn't realize she was it. But God opened my eyes to the fact that everyone is flawed and everyone has shortcomings. It's not *my* job to fix people- that God's job. He also made me see that loving unlovely people is as much a lesson for me as it is grace for another person (in this case, probably more so because I honestly don't think she even realizes how rude and inconsiderate she is!). To do this makes me more Christlike.
Well, after that reality check, I decided to allow God to continue molding me. So I walked over to the kitchen sink and humbly washed her weeks old dishes. Without complaining. And praying for grace and blessings in her life.
I don't have any doubt this is a continual process. But it is so nice to know that when God loves me at my unloveliest, it isn't with the grumbling, complaining and resentment that I do it with. And that He can change my heart to match His.
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