Truth- “Ugh people” is a real thing that I occasionally feel. They are words I have said and texted to close friends. Truth-This thought, feeling, whatever you’d like to call it is, in fact a sin. It goes against our command to love people. Truth-It would be super easy for me to skip writing about loving people. Truth- I have been avoiding and putting this off for over a week. Why? Loving people is hard for me. It doesn’t come naturally. Instead, it is something that I have to make a conscious effort to do. Don’t get me wrong, there are many people that I deeply love. But if I’m being honest, which I endeavor to do here, loving people is a struggle for me at times. It is something that God has been working on in me for years. And at times I fall back into sinful thinking and allow thoughts like “ugh people” to invade my mind and heart. 

Love God, Love People, Give God your best. Those are the three goals that God has continued to impress on my heart and mind in numerous ways and places. Matthew 22:36-39 says: “He (Jesus)  said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself”  Last week we talked about Loving God, which is where it all begins. The only way to truly love people is to love God first. Many years ago God began to teach me that love is a choice, more than a feeling. There are people in each of our lives that are just plain hard to love, we all have them. More than likely one of these people is coming to your mind as you read this. I am not going to pretend I have this all figured out, because a quick look at my life will tell you, I  don’t! But God, who is faithful, has been teaching me and growing and reminding me that those hard to love people are just as much His children as I am.  

1 Corinthians 13 is the normal passage used when discussing matters of love. But it was actually 1 John that broke me and convicted me of this sin. If you are unfamiliar with this book in the New Testament, I encourage you to click the link and read this short book that is packed full of amazing truth. For me it started with 1 John 2:3 which says “This is how we know that we know Him: if we keep Him commands.” You see, there was someone in my life that I didn’t feel love for, someone that I felt obligated to love, but had zero desire to be around. Someone  who required much of my time and attention but at the same time was hurtful and hateful. How could I claim to know God personally and fail to keep one of the greatest commands; loving people? That is precisely when God began to use the book of 1 John to soften my heart and teach me that love was much more than a feeling, it is a choice. A choice that we are called to make everyday. A choice that goes beyond our nature, but one that He gives us the ability to make. 1 John 4:4 reminds us that He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. I can’t, but Jesus can! When I began to look at people, even the hard to love ones through the eyes of Jesus and allowed the One in me to make the choice to love them, it got easier. Not perfect, still hard, but easier nonetheless. 

Matthew 9:36 tells us “When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.” Read that verse a couple of times slowly and allow the words to sink into your understanding. Jesus saw the people. Every single one of them, lost, broken, hurting, messed up people. Just like He sees you and me. Jesus felt compassion for these people. He knew exactly who they were, what they had done and yet He loved them and knew their needs.  Just like He does with us. There is another familiar story in Luke 10:25-37, the parable of the good Samaritan. This story also involves seeing people and having compassion. Many saw the hurt man, but only one had compassion on him. 

These scriptures bring to mind many questions. Maybe you will find them helpful as well, when you think about how you love people. Do I really see people?  What about those people that are closest to me, do I really see them? How much easier is it at times, to have compassion on complete strangers, rather than with those whom we share an address with? How frequently do I make myself  judge, deciding whether or not people are worthy of compassion and love? Am I allowing the One who is in me to be greater? 

Bottom line, you and I are people whom Jesus sees, loves and deals with compassionately. Not a single one of us deserve what Jesus gives us. If I’m going to follow Jesus with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, then there really is only one choice to make-I must choose to love all of His children. Not by my power but by His!

One final thought about loving others. Loving people sometimes requires us to do hard things and have hard conversations. At times it involves pushing our loved ones out of comfort zones, challenging them to do hard things and live differently. There will be times when it means holding them accountable for their behaviors, actions and words. It may mean allowing them to be angry and hurt for a period of time, but loving them through it. Loving others is broad and deep and just like with loving God, there are layers that come with it. Loving our family and friends will look different than loving our co-workers and neighbors. Loving a complete stranger will look different than loving the guy at the coffee shop who remembers your coffee order. Regardless of who we are loving, we must first see them. Not a single one of us was created to walk through this life alone, we all need people around us to see and love us just as we are. 

Who will you choose to love today?