The Unlovables

What do you mean I'm not lovable 100% of the time?
I think I am pretty angelic all the time and it's easy for people to love me.
Except for maybe that one time 5 years ago when I yelled at my friend.
Or that one time last year when I whined about having to do my job.
I guess when I said some pretty mean things about Joe Schmoo last month wasn't my finest moment either...
Or last week when I was snappy with everyone for no reason...
Or today when I interrupted someone to tell them they were doing something wrong..

Okay, I guess I'm not always lovable.
Maybe by human standards it is hard to continue loving people unconditionally. Unconditional love is pretty hard to come by these days. A parent loves their child unconditionally (we hope). For relationships other than parent-child relationships...is that quite as common? Probably not.

We are humans. Therefore we are greedy. We look out for ourselves and tend to focus on few other than "me." I am definitely at fault in this area. Though I have my friends and I want to help them in any way I can, there is still a small bit of greed that affects my decisions to help them. If I do this...then Mary will like me more. If I help John with this...then maybe he'll call me to hang out more with his friend group. And so on and so forth. My motivations are not purely out of service towards other people. My heart is not pure in that way.

I find it sad, too. But my point comes back to the "unlovables."
Loving people isn't so hard when they love you in return. And Yet, Christ calls us to love ALL people, especially those that persecute us.

Matthew 5:43-48
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? ...

Luke 6:27
“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

Christ was the ultimate example to us in how He treated others. Should we not try and incorporate that into our own lives? We want to love and serve just like Christ did. We cannot pick and choose which area of life we want to mimic Christ. We need to devote our whole lives to him. That includes loving people who maybe don't even deserve our love.

That's one part of following Christ that I struggle with daily. There are some people that really try my patience and disrespect me. Naturally, I don't want to be friendly or nice to them anymore. I have to remember that I'm also not always so fun to be around. I insult people by accident or can be disrespectful, but people still love me regardless. God is the only one who will never leave me when I mess up and completely screw everything up. He loves me no matter what. I really want to take the love that he has given me and give it to others.

I have a teacher right now that is very disrespectful to not just me, but my friends as well. It takes everything I have not to want to throw them out of a window. Sometimes I can't even focus on the information being presented in class because I'm so focused on how Jesus loves me and I need to return that same love to this teacher. It's hard. It's hard to not gossip about them and tear them down when they're not around.

The only way I can make it through that class is knowing that Jesus loves me and because of that love, I can love others.

1 John 4:8
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

I love God! So therefore, I will love YOU...although...I may struggle with it at times, just give me some patience and I'll love you like you deserve :)