It is easy to be kind to the people who care for you and who love you, but what about the “other” people?

What about the ones who challenge your vision and oppose your suggestions? What about those who propel their opinions of you on others, causing tension and division?

Being kind or showing love to someone who does not care for you is pretty difficult and quite frankly, frustrating. Jesus calls us to show love to all people, regardless of how they may treat us. He doesn’t say this will be easy, but He did ask that we would present our lives a living sacrifice to Him. This implies that regardless of how we feel about a situation or a person, we have the words of eternal life to impact our circle of acquaintances. Being a living sacrifice also means that we step outside of who we are, surrendering our mind, body and soul to the Lord to express a different kind of love – a love that some may have not experienced, but unknowingly long for.  Why? Because this kind of love is different but it is also a demonstration of the love Jesus expresses towards ungrateful, and unreasonable people who have rejected Him from birth and continue to reject Him on a larger scale. Can you imagine how that would feel- to be rejected from birth?

We cannot love people with our type of love because our type of love is selective, but when you love the people around you with His kind of love, they’ll notice.

Let us ask God to help us love people past their faults, the way that Jesus called us to love them. After all, that is what He has done for us. If we as believers cannot do this, then I am afraid we are yet to know God. God is love.

“My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!” 1 John‬ ‭4:11-12‬ ‭MSG‬‬