Thursday, September 7, 2023

Is there a person who drives you crazy? Maybe someone who seems nice enough, but they just get under your skin? This is embarrassing to admit, but in the past, I hid from someone just like that who drove me crazy.

We are called to love everyone—not just those who are easy to love—and it’s a really hard thing to do.

Last weekend, Christine Sweeney spoke about loving those who are hard to love. She encouraged us to put our love into action through prayer, kindness, and service to those difficult people in our lives.

Matthew 5:46-47
⁴⁶ If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. ⁴⁷ If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.

I struggle with this. Yet that is what Jesus is calling all of us to do. 

1 John 4:7
⁷ Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. ⁸ But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Love is what defines us to the world as children of God. When we don’t love difficult people, we are no different from the world. When we allow someone to drive us crazy, we become so focused on that person and our feelings, that we take our eyes off Jesus. And as we are drawn away from Jesus, we lose our peace and joy. 

It is only Jesus’ love that enables us to love everyone. Jesus calls us to trust him and focus on him. He wants us to surrender that difficult person to him, and let him work—in them and us. In those moments when we feel our resolve slipping, we need to bring our focus back to Jesus through prayer, praise, and worship. 

I would like to share a prayer that I like to meditate on daily from the Bible study, What Love Is: The Letters of 1, 2, 3 John, written by Kelly Minter:

“Lord, give me the capacity to love, to have immeasurable compassion, sweet affection, and a deep well of grace. Amen.”

Questions: 
Who drives you crazy? How can you show them love? 

Next Steps:
Participate in Christine’s challenge to really pray for that difficult person for 30 days. Do something kind for a difficult person. Surrender that person to Jesus and shift your focus to him.

Prayer:
Jesus, I am so blessed and thankful you love me so much. Please help me to love others as you love me. Fill me with your grace and compassion. Teach me to focus on you at all times. Change me, Lord, and help me grow more and more like you. Amen.

Series Theme Verse:

1 John 4:10-11
¹⁰ This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 

This post was written by Marsha Raymond, a regular contributor to the LivingItOut Devotional.