“Since God chose you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you.  Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.  Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.” Colossians 3:12-14 NLT

We all have people in our lives we find little patience for or don’t quite understand.   We don’t like nor do we appreciate the choices some make, or how they treat others.  We allow them to hurt us with their words, their actions, or their attitudes.

We wonder why God has put the unlovable in our lives; why we seem to always find ourselves around them without knowing how we keep coming together.  Sometimes, the unlovable is a family member, and we have no choice but to figure out how to live at peace with them.

It is difficult to love everyone, all the time, and if we are honest, we can all agree that we have been the unlovable to someone at some point in our lives.

It is important to remember that hurting people hurt people.  If we stop and look at the unlovable through God’s eyes rather than through the lens of their mistakes, perhaps we would see a different side; a softer, more vulnerable side.  If we bear with the unlovable with compassion, gentleness and patience, and then forgive them, perhaps we can show them a love they have never seen before.  If we take the time to listen to the unlovable, and look past their actions to see their heart, we would be able to show them this unconditional love God is talking about.

Loving them anyway goes against everything the world tells us to do.  Our human instinct tells us to reject them and move on; and yes, there are times when we must protect ourselves from that way of thinking.  God does not expect us to be doormats in order to love the unlovable.  But we must first try to “live at peace with everyone.” [Romans 12:18 NLT]

Something happens when we love people anyway, despite their harsh words or their negative attitudes.   Just as you see them differently, they begin to see you with different eyes.  They wonder how you could possibly love them after the way they treated you; and you can tell them, “Because God did it for me.”

When we love the unlovable, we open a door to their soul for God to enter and do His work.

Let’s persevere in loving the unlovable.  Let’s forgive and love them anyway, and see what our Lord God will do; and I pray for those of you who I have offended would forgive me and love me anyway.

Peace be with you.

~Julia