I know that this may be a shock to some, but not to those close to me.
I don’t like people.
What? How can a person like me NOT like people?
Well, I don’t.
I have an incredibly low tolerance for stupidity (not unintelligent… pure stupidity) and a bunch of other stuff. I have really been struggling with this in my life. As I get older I feel myself becoming more and more intolerant of people around me that I feel do not measure up to my standard.
Lately, the Lord has been really working on me about this. He has told me that I need to LOVE people. REALLY TRULY LOVE people.
The song that has been running through my head repeatedly is Love Them Like Jesus by Casting Crowns. I want to love people like Jesus, but I have not been doing my job!
Now, I know people will say, “Well, look at what you two do? Well, You see… I can love certain kinds of people. I can easily love the childless, the poor, the hurting, the sick, the orphan, the dirty person… but that is not enough.
If I am to LOVE people like Jesus that means I have to love every person…. The annoying. The mean. The intolerant. The person who makes the same mistake repeatedly. The person who keeps hurting me. The person who seems to rub me the wrong way every time I see them. All the people that I in my own strength CAN NOT love.
You see, I have been loving people in my own strength. The people that I can easily love. But, I haven’t been loving every person that God puts in my path.
A while ago, Pastor Mike Cooper preached a sermon he called, “God loves the smelly people.” I sat there and felt like I could love the smelly people. I was pretty good at that… but then I reserved a whole group of people I felt I could remain intolerant of.
Oh, could you imagine if Jesus loved people the way that I have?
I hurt him continually.
I grieve His Spirit with MY STUPIDITY.
I do this repeatedly.
And yet He loves me. UNCONDITIONALLY.
Oh Thank you my dear sweet Savior. I need to love people. Truly LOVE people.
I want to love them the way that Jesus loves ME.
