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(Matthew 5:44) “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
SERIES 7: WALKING WITH JESUS - “How do I now live because I belong to Christ?” 15. Loving difficult people (Grace enables us to love beyond our natural ability).
Following Jesus changes not only how we treat people we love, but also how we respond to people we find hard to love.
It is easy to love people who love us, encourage us and treat us well. But what about the person who irritates us? The person who has hurt us? The person we would rather avoid? Jesus told us in the above Scripture what to do... He calls beyond our natural response.
That can feel almost impossible. And perhaps that's the point.
Christian love doesn't mean pretending that someone's behaviour is acceptable, allowing them to hurt us, or removing healthy boundaries. It means choosing to treat them with grace, even when we don't feel like it.
It means refusing to repay hurt with hurt, and remembering that the person who upsets and frustrates us is still someone made in God's image.
And perhaps, most importantly, it means remembering how much grace God has shown us!
We can become very good at noticing other people's faults while conveniently forgetting our own. Paul reminds us:
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)
Sometimes the first step towards loving a difficult person is simply to pray for them. Not a prayer asking God to change them so that we can tolerate them more easily, but a genuine prayer for their wellbeing, healing and relationship with God.
Prayer is the key to changing something inside us. It softens a heart that has become hard and reminds us that difficult people are still people whom God loves. In effect, we can't change difficult people - but God can, and in the meantime, He changes the way we respond to them.
So instead of asking, “How can I make them easier to love?” perhaps ask, “Lord, how can Your grace help me love them?”
(Great Quote) “Loving difficult people doesn't mean pretending they are easy to love. It means allowing God's grace to love them through us.”
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Let us pray, "Heavenly Father, where do I even begin ... Please help me to forgive those who I feel are difficult to love, those who need Your help - including ME!" Amen!
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URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS (Please keep checking as more are being added almost daily)