ANOTHER TOUGH QUESTION...ANSWERED.

Here's my answer to Josh's tough question:
It’s one of the consequences of the fall of mankind, I’m afraid. Not only have we fallen out of relationship with God, more often than not we find it difficult to enjoy positive relationships with other people as well! In simple terms, all the problems of the world could be summed up by the fact that people cannot find it in themselves to love each other. Of course, Christians should be living to a higher standard than anyone else, and we should be able to demonstrate loving relationships:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13.34-35

Unity amongst believers is vitally important, yet Josh speaks for us all when he confesses that sometimes it’s so difficult to demonstrate love to Christians who appear so difficult to get on with. I can once remember someone explaining that our challenge is to see everyone through the eyes of Jesus- if he can love them then so can we! I’d like to add to this the painful fact that sometimes people might be looking at you and me as the ones who are really difficult to love! I guess words like forgiveness, grace, mercy and patience, all come into play when we are considering this issue. I can also remember Max Lucado talking about people who were ‘EGR’. He meant in order to deal with them there would be Extra Grace Required!
Another way of looking at this is to suggest that although we are called to love one another, this doesn’t mean we have to like each other, spend loads of time with each other, and become best of friends! In other words, I’d like to offer the thought that we can ask for God’s grace to respect a person, to love them as part of the body of Christ, even if we find it hard to warm to them. Praying for them might be a good thing to do as well!
If there has been a previous dispute or disagreement that is the cause of our being unable to love a brother or sister in Christ, then we have to resolve that issue and begin to restore the relationship, but if it’s a simply a case of personalities clashing then perhaps we need to relieve ourselves from the pressure of a guilty conscience. We aren’t going to get on well with everyone, but we can have a Godly respect for everyone and treat them with grace and dignity- even if that’s not the way they treat us.
Have a read through 1 Timothy 1- although the chapter isn’t written specifically about this challenge, it’s packed full of advice about love, a good conscience, mercy, and treating others well. It also gives a warning to those who consistently fall out and disagree with other members of the body of Christ. Some people are just plain difficult to deal with. John Maxwell puts it this way- when Bob has a problem with everyone he meets, then Bob’s the problem! Peter's letters and John's first letter all include lots of good guidance about getting on with fellow believers. Galatians 5 would also challenge us on this topic.

Comments

[stephanie]

I've a rather bizarre question but you don't seem like you'd mind pondering it.

Do you think that one's inability or unwillingness to "receive" love (meaning accepting help or encouragement when in need) impact our effectiveness at expressing or offering love towards those that might require that added measure of grace?

Does that even make sense?