Doing the Hard Things

There's a lot of people I don't like, mainly because I got anger issues. Being the youngest in a family like mine, that's not surprising. But as a Christian I am called to love all as Christ has. We see this when Jesus talks about the Greatest Commandment. We see this happen in Luke 10, and Jesus tells a parable of a good Samaritan.

Some background for the parable that Jesus tells is that he was speaking to Jews. One things Jews were not to do were touch a dead body. Jews also hated Samaritans.

So the parable goes a Jew was walking down the road, was robbed and left for dead. A priest walks by, then a minister, both of which keep clear of the body. Finally a Samaritan walks by, sees the bloodied half dead Jew, and carries him to the next town to be taken care of.

Jesus then asks the question, "Who was the man's neighbor?" Well of course the dirty, rotten, no good Samaritan, he's the only one that took care of the guy despite their hatred for each other.

This is what we are called to do as Christians.

At camp this past week I had a couple guys get in a fight during football, so I had to break it up and talk to both of them. I told them that I wanted each of them to pray for the other, that they be blessed, happy, and that they would have a great rest of the week.

Whenever I pray, I always think of people I don't like, either they make me mad, there's just something about them, or they have actually done things against me, and I pray for them. I ask God for their well being, for their happiness, for them to be blessed.

I tell you this not to build myself up, but this is what I see Jesus tell us to do, to love those we just down right can't stand.

This is one of the hardest things you will ever do. But ask you continue praying for them you will begin to have compassion for them. My list of people that I don't like gets shorter and shorter, with me having more and more compassion for those people.

I don't know about you, but I want to be more and more like Jesus. I'm a far sight from being even close to what he's like, but I make and effort every day. A lot of days I fail, but I actually love Jesus enough to keep trying despite the fact that there may be little to no change sometimes. But he's worth me trying.

So I end with this encouragement: Love others to the best of your ability.  Do all you can to be like Jesus. Start off simple, and pray that those you can't stand have a great day, and that God blesses them more than he blesses you.

For the first shall be last and the last shall be first. To be the greatest you must become the least.

Humble yourself, and be a servant to all in all ways, from actions to prayer. Just make sure your do it with a sincere heart.