On liking, loving, and honoring those difficult people in my life!

I'm sitting here this afternoon going over the material for my Sunday morning sermon and listening to the Lord as He speaks to me about the application of several difficult passages of scripture.  Tomorrow I will preaching on what it means to not just love, but to actually like people in the world around us.  We'll look at a number of scriptures and some key components on how to make this a reality.  The problem though is that words are easily spoken but not so easy to apply.  Seldom do we struggle with the command to love one another.  But how often do we realize that you can't really love someone without first liking them?  If my heart is not predisposed toward relationship, what is the purpose of the extending of love?  Relationship demands a sense of like long before it becomes love and when we finally realize that, we are released to truly embrace and fulfill Christ's command.

I live in a world where I often hear people say, "I'll love them, but I don't have to like them."  Last week I shared with my congregation that you can't say that and truly express love.  Love demands like and vice versa.  But what happens when the people in your pathway are unlikeable or unlovable?  What happens when they grate you the wrong way and you'd rather lash out than reach out in unity and love?

Christ calls us to a higher standard.  It is what sets Christianity apart as a relational belief system.  In practicing our faith, we must move beyond platitudes and embrace authentic action.  We must learn to like and then to love even the most difficult people in our pathway.  I don't like that anymore than the next guy.  There are people in my life that are what HB London called, "joy suckers."  They suck the life right out of you when you are around them.  But if I am who I claim to be, I can't turn my back on them.  I can't reject them.  I must show Christ to them and that means that I enter in a relationship of like and love with them that through me they can see Jesus.  It hasn't been and isn't easy.  I often fail.  But on those occasions where I let Christ lead the way, it is amazing how even the unlikeable suddenly seem to have things about them that are attractive to me.  It's amazing how the unlovable suddenly seem to have something magnetic about them.  With Christ pointing me forward, I find myself liking and loving and even showing honor to them.  It's His call.  It's what it means to be like Jesus.  It's what our world needs if we are ever going to get beyond all this relational brokenness.  The question is, "will we respond and let God work this liking, loving, honoring work through us?"

Join me on this journey and let's see if we can't just make a real and lasting difference.