Love Them Anyway

“People don’t need information; they want examples” Bob Goff

You know those times that you feel like God is trying to challenge your heart? You read things and you hear things much like our church sermon recently, and it’s God trying to reach you again. This has happened to me recently, and I am no longer trying to run and hide from this. I am going to accept His challenge for me and work towards it. Over the last couple of months I have started reading this book; Everybody Always by Bob Goff. It is incredible; the challenge started with this book and it continued with my bible study and with hearing from God in multiple different settings. This book is about encouraging you to love difficult people, the creepy ones, the rude ones, and the not so loveable ones; to love them anyways because ultimately it is what Jesus has called us to do and it is what He did. He did not just choose the good people or the easy ones to love. He loved us all the same. I am not going to lie to you this task is a little terrifying and overwhelming, but I am going to give it my all because I can feel God putting this on my heart and to trust Him. I know I will not be perfect and I will mess up a time or two but I am going to give this my whole heart. 

“It doesn’t matter what our faith looks like, it matters what it is” Bob Goff

There are people in my life and people that I have met that are not totally my cup of tea, and for me it is so hard to love them for who they are because it doesn’t fit my mold. A lot of times I find myself casting judgements of what I believe is right and wrong and I am sure that God loves hearing and watching that. Like I am the one who has it all figured out and like I really know their heart and true intentions. We are human and we cannot be Jesus because, well no one can be, but we should want to strive to love like He loves us. It is hard for me to love someone when I truly feel in my heart they are doing things that I believe are wrong or if someone has done wrong to me.  It is difficult to let go of those wrongs and move on. Even harder are the ones who have done hurtful things and will never apologize for them. Even the people that are rude to you in a store or someone honking at you and saying something ugly as they drive by. In his book he also talks about having a childlike faith. It made me think of how I am trying to teach and encourage our children to walk with Him. How God’s kingdom is growing in our faith putting our selfish needs aside for others, He nurtures us gently and loving as we should do to our children. How we expect our children to listen, obey and follow our rules, so should we be to God. When you hear things enough times it’s not just out of coincidence, it’s Jesus trying new ways to reach you. To truly love the difficult people you have to walk outside of fear, because if you live in the fear of these people and relationships, love cannot grow the way God intends for it to. It is easy to set up boundaries and walls to protect yourself. Barriers make us feel secure and safe, but in the end we put those barriers in place because we are letting our fear take over. Loving difficult people will be complicated, messy and hard, but at the end of the day if you are doing it with a Godly heart it will be worth. You have to make sure that you have the right words coming from a good heart, because as Bob points out in his book if you have the right words said with the wrong heart it will not be good. We cannot let our opinions overshadow God’s love. One of the many favorite things that he says in his book is that Arguments won’t change people. This is so important because there are times we want to be justified in our beliefs, the need to always be the one who is right or making sure our opinion is heard, and this is not how God loves us. He gently guides us and leads us. Even when we try and tell Him what we know is best for us. Instead of trying to prove to us He is right, He gently guides us and continues to pursue us and love us.

Can you imagine if we lived in a world where people chose to love those they disagree with or the ones who we don’t want to love? God made the world such a beautiful place because of His love. Here is the secret, the world can be like this because God made us to love. We were made out of His love. Love has to be cultivated and nurtured for it grow, but nurture it the right way through His love and His wisdom. He doesn’t demand that it be done perfectly because news flash no one can. He just wants you to try and keep trying because you will not always get it right.  Sometimes the difficult people you are made to show His love to and connect with are not complete strangers, they are family members, friends and at times your spouse. Try to show His love more than your desire to be right. Try to spend time learning about the many ways God’s love showed up and let them speak to you. You don’t always have to show up in big ways to show His love to these people’ at times it can be a simple smile or an I love you. It could be saying I am proud of you. Other times it may be something way bigger than that but whatever you do, do it with a love truly after God’s heart. Showing His love brings people closer to Him. At the end of our life we will be remembered for the way we loved; the way we had a love for Jesus, the way we loved our family and the way we brought His love into this world. If this world is more full of Christ filled love, imagine the beauty that can be cultivated.  I will leave you with this quote from the book Everybody Always and let it speak to you. Let it challenge you. Use it and dive into His word and let it guide your heart. 

“Find someone you think is wrong, someone you disagree with, someone who isn’t like you at all,

and decide to love that person the way you want Jesus to love you.” -Bob Goff