Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. — 1 John 4:11
It does not take long in this world to realize that it can be difficult to love others. I’ll never forget many years ago when I had someone who said something about me to others. It was hurtful. It created a wide array of feelings that came over me. I was disappointed and angry. Thoughts of getting even went through my mind. I remember that I went for weeks upset at this person.
A lot of people would say that I had every right to be upset. Others would have said that I had every right to get even. Those are the normal responses that go through our minds when these things happen. That is the response that the world will tell us is acceptable.
But the Bible says something completely different. God designed us all with our own individual ideas, desires, and thoughts. He also designed us to be in this life together. He knew that we could not make it through life without others. I have no doubt that’s why so much guidance is in the Bible about relationships with others.
In this verse, it shares that we should love one another because of the way that God loved us. God did not love us for everything we did that was perfect. We are all far from perfect. He loved us in spite of all our imperfections. That is exactly how we should be with others.
It is impossible to go through life, and everything be perfect. We are going to have disagreements and find ourselves hurt by others. When it’s tough to love others, we should take a moment and reflect on the love that God showed us. Just because we were sinners and made mistakes, He didn’t put us aside. Instead, He loved us anyway, in spite of all our flaws.
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