Unloveable part 2
Here's what I'm NOT saying: I'm not saying you should put yourself in a bad situation. I'm not saying you should let people steamroll over you. Meekness is not weakness. It's strength under control. When I'm talking about loving the unloveable, about not kicking someone out of your life just so you can avoid their negativity, I'm talking about sharing what you've got. And here's a newsflash: To some people YOU seem unloveable. To some people YOU are super annoying and need to be avoided at all costs. That's just the way it is. We all interact in different ways. It's the principle from that 5 Languages of Love book, right? Not everybody loves in the same way. And not everybody receives love in the same way. Some people you just can't reach. And that's ok. Because maybe you can't reach them... but maybe I can. I guess what I'm trying to say is: Do your best. If you do all you can do it's either enough, or it's not. But I think people are worth the effort. In fact, I think people are just about the only thing that is worth the effort. So we shouldn't write people off because they rub us the wrong way. Chances are, if they're hard to love that means they need it the most because they aren't getting it. And since we have it, we ought to share it. As much and as liberally as we can. Without really even trying. Just letting God's love fill us to overflowing and come out naturally. But most of the time we're so focused on other things--other people--that we forget about ourselves. We forget about how loved WE are. Even when WE are unloveable. In your worst moment, God still said, "You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." He still said, "I love you." Because that's what love is; it's unconditional. It has nothing to do with behavior, and it has everything to do with identity. Nothing to do with what you do and everything to do with who you are. So if we're judging people by what they do, and withholding love for that reason, then we don't really understand love at all. Love isn't something you CAN withhold. Love is life. If you don't love, you abide in death. And both of those things--life and death--feed on themselves. Life, when it is truly lived (by receiving and releasing the love of God) becomes ABUNDANT life. Death, when you dwell there, keeps pulling you further and further down until you're buried underneath a mountain of it. The surface stuff can add up really quickly if you let it. You start by "getting rid of the negative people" and then you start finding negativity in everyone. Start getting rid of everyone. And then you find yourself all alone. (And, we KNOW that we're never all alone because Jesus lives in us and swore that He would never leave us nor forsake us, but without other people it sure can FEEL lonely.) Here's my point for today: I'm not saying you need to be best friends with everybody whose alive. I'm simply saying we are ALL worthy of love, no matter who we are or what we've done. So be kind. Let what's in you come out and get all over anybody and everybody that you come into contact with!