Loving Others

“Loving Others”

By Zach Wood

1 John 4:13-16

“We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.  If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.  God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”

Does it seem to be easy to love others when we enjoy being around them?  Does it seem easy to love others when we get along with them and don’t argue?  Of course it does.  When our kids are behaving and using great manners, it puts a smile on our face.  When we are around family and friends who we really enjoy being with, loving seems to come naturally.

How about when we are around others who seem to be nothing but difficult for us?  How about when we are around our kids or other’s kids who do nothing but whine, complain and throw fits?  How about when we work right beside someone all day long who does nothing but use foul language? 

How do we feel about loving others when we are around these people and others that are challenging to be with?  Of course loving others with God’s love is so much easier when we are around those who don’t present a challenge to love.  We sure want things easy, don’t we?  We want things to be the easy way so much.  However, we often forget that God wants to work through others who are difficult to build our character and to teach us to love deeper. 

How could we possibly grow in loving others if we are always around those whom are easy to show love?  We would not grow.  God’s love is definitely beyond our love.  However, we can still strive to show His love, even though we will be imperfect many times.  We must make an effort to be sincere in our love for others, especially when other people seem to be more difficult.

What we must always remember when we deal with difficult people is that we are also difficult to deal for others to deal with as well.  As much as we sometimes want to focus on how others are toward us, we are the same way.  God’s love needs to be lived through us, always.  No matter how difficult others are, God wants to strengthen our hearts so that we learn to love regardless of how we are treated.