“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Ephesians 4:2
God created us to know what it means to love and be loved. However, neither one of us is perfect. Everyone will fall short and sin. The people closest to you will hurt you the most. They will cause you pain and will often get on your nerves. They will always test your patience.
So the easiest way we respond to these problems is to leave, ignore, or not care for them at all. But God says otherwise. You see, child of God, there is no sense in loving the same people who love you. That’s a given, and that’s easy. But the real challenge is to love difficult people.
The truth is, you are not easy to love too. You may not feel like it, but you’re also a difficult person in their eyes. I’m sure you have certain traits that also get on their nerves. And just like you, these people also need love and forgiveness.
Beloved, it’s never a question of who deserves this kind of love and who doesn’t. Because if life is based on who does good, we will all go to hell. But if we can only see how difficult we are and yet God loves us the same, we’ll understand what it means to forgive people. We’ll realize how He forgives us even though we fail Him every day.
You won’t remember how people caused you pain at the end of your life. You won’t remember the hurtful words you’ve heard, the struggles you faced, the pain you’ve felt when a friend betrayed you, or how an important person disrespected you.
All these won’t matter anymore. What will only matter is how you loved them otherwise, how you treated them with respect, how you showed them patience, how you wanted the best for them, how you showed grace even when they’re undeserving, and how you loved like Jesus.
Please understand that our role is not to change them but to love them sacrificially and unconditionally, as God did. His love for us should move us to love imperfect people the same way.
Precious child of God, I hope you learn how to appreciate people who are different from you. Always make allowance for their mistakes so that you can forgive them as well. Endure every pain because it will be worth it in the end. But above all, never stop praying for them.
So today, entrust all the difficult people in your life to God. Just continue loving them, and He promises to take care of the rest.
