Throughout the last several weeks we’ve been focusing our attention on what it means to be the kind of peacemakers that Jesus frees us up to be. A big part of our focus in this area has to do with coming to grips with the fact that we are sinners, that we need God’s grace, and that Jesus Christ gives us grace. The following quote is from an excellent pamphlet from the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF). Consider the ways that you can live out the author’s suggestions in the next 24 hours:
We are all hard to love
Learning to love difficult people starts with understanding that you (like me) are hard to love too. You might not be difficult to love in the same way as those around you are, and you may not cause the same amount of relational damage; but on the inside, in your own way, you’re just as difficult to love as everyone else.
Just like those difficult people, you and I sin and go astray (Isaiah 53:6, Romans 3:22 -23). It took Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for God to welcome you and me into his family area God doesn’t love you because you make such a wonderful addition to its family; he loves you in spite of what you are like. And through his love for you, he changes you to be like himself. He makes you lovely, even though you didn’t start out lovely (2 Corinthians 5:17-1. You need exactly the same things from God — grace, mercy, kindness, and welcome — that others need from you.
If deep down you know you are lovable and God’s acceptance of you is completely undeserved, then you will have a welcoming attitude toward other unlovely people. But if you believe you’re basically a decent person who anyone would be privileged to know, then you won’t welcome others until they get their act together and become decent… just like you!
Learning the difficult skill of loving difficult people start asking God to show you how hard you are to love. When he answers your prayer, ask him to forgive you. Then because you have been forgiven for so much, you will be able to share the grace you have received with others (Luke 7:47)
from How to Love Difficult People: Receiving and Sharing God’s Mercy by William P. Smith
