Loving The Unlovable
Everyone knows someone who is hard to love. Maybe they seem to be angry at everyone. Or perhaps they are dirty and smell bad. Some may be addicts or abusers…
Unlovable. Who decides who is unlovable? In High School, the popular crowd decides. At work, often it’s management. In life those who have often condemn those who have not.
Romans 12:9-10 ~ Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.
God calls us to love everyone. If we have faith enough to believe in a God who loves us to send His son to die for our sins, and we have hope in a future with God, then how can we not love others with a willing and joyful heart?
1 Corinthians 13:13 ~ And now these three things remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Thessalonians 3:12 ~ May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.
God despises a love for material things. Often times, we love our belongings more than we love those less fortunate. It is easy to It is easy to bring in a few canned foods at Thanksgiving, or an extra toy at Christmas but what about the other 363 days of the year? We don’t have to give monetary things everyday but there is always something we can give to others. We cannot love material things and love God or others. Our actions and deeds express God’s love far more than any store bought gift.
1 John 3:17-18 ~ If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
When we give love freely to others, expecting nothing in return, we love with confidence in our future. This type of love won’t guarantee financial freedom or an easy, stress-free life, but it will guarantee an eternal life with a Father who loves beyond measure. It guarantees a life without fear.
1 John 4:17-19 ~ In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
So reach out to those that are “unlovable”. Smile at the grumpy cashier and be gracious to the overworked waitress. Take a co-worker to lunch. Be on the look-out for those less fortunate than you and see how you can reach out to them. If nothing comes to mind, you can ALWAYS pray for them and their family.
SUPPORTING SCRIPTURES:
1 John 4:7-21 ~ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 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. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
