Loving Like Jesus

"Do to others as you would like them to do to you. If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much!

And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return.

"Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate."  Luke 6:31-38

We must love like Jesus loves.  We must love both the loveable and the unloveable -both the saint and the sinner.  Besides, the only difference between a saint and a sinner is forgiveness.  If we love only the loveable, then we are no different than sinners.  No, we are to love others unconditionally just as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ does.  Though others may try to take advantage, we should have a higher perspective on the situation.

I am currently struggling with loving someone who is doing much harm in the lives of many people who are close to me.  This person's actions have disrupted a family.  There are children involved whose lives have been completely turned upside down due to this person's actions. HRS is now involved.  It's a very serious situation.  Yet, this person needs Christ more than any other person I know right now.  As much as I'd like to write the person off, I can't.  This is really tough for me because I'm emotionally tied to those involved.  All I really want to do is give the person a piece of my mind and watch them sink in their own sin.  However, I know this will accomplish nothing.  In addition, there are too many other lives that will suffer if this person suffers.  And even more importantly, despite what I think or how I feel about this person, God loves them just as much as He loves me!  The only remedy to the situation is for this person to be changed from the inside out. The only person I know who can perform such a miracle is Jesus Christ. I am determined to love this person right into the arms of Christ!  So I am choosing to love them and pray for them.

When people come to us for prayer or for help, they may not always be truthful and up front with us, especially non-believers. Their motivation may be rooted in greed, a need for attention, or to get as much out of us as they can.  But in other cases, they may have genuine needs.  Their lack of honesty may be because they are trying save face or they simply can't deal with the painful truth. As I told a friend today, our purpose is to love them as Jesus did, pray for them, and help without enabling them - taking them at face value at the moment. (Turn the other cheek, right?) That is not to say we should allow people to take advantage, just that they need Christ's love and we are to be the vessel in which His love is displayed.

Loving like Jesus is tough.  In some cases, we may just plain out not want to.  That's totally understandable.  However, God expects us to be more like Christ than the world - and loving others is a big part of it.  Otherwise, we are no better off than those who don't know Jesus.  Loving the unloveable isn't without it's difficulties.  It's no walk in the park.  Christ knew this and he indicated how we are to respond - with more love - doing good to them and never expecting anything in return!  And sometimes, the love we need to give will be tough love - loving without enabling.   That is the position that I and others are having to take in the situation I mentioned earlier. 

Just know that when the loving gets tough, the tough get to loving!  In Christ, it is possible to love the unloveable. 

In His Love, Cathy