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Do you have any people in your life right now you just don’t like very much? Chances are you do. Yes, even Christians have to admit we run into people who just rub us the wrong way. The question I’m addressing is: how can I love the people I don’t like?
God hasn’t told us to like everyone. There are people we simply cannot admire or enjoy. But Scripture gives us many directives to love others. We’ve seen God’s kind of love—agape love—is not dependent on our feelings. Love is an action, not a feeling.
Well, if love is an action, what actions then are love actions? First Corinthians 13 is a good place to look for a list of love actions. They include:
Patience: When you act with patience toward someone, you are loving him or her. Keep in mind love is not a feeling, so we don’t have to feel patient. Can you remember acting with patience even when you did not feel patient? That is agape love.
Kindness: When you feel like saying something sarcastic or cutting or angry, but instead you say something kind, that is a love action.
Not Jealous: When you refuse to behave jealously or possessively, you are showing love.
Has Good Manners: Just plain courtesy is a love action. How often we forget good manners, like not interrupting others when they’re talking, letting others go ahead of us, etc. Those are love actions.
Unselfish: Agape love acts in an unselfish manner, without pursuing selfish advantage or trampling over others in trying to get where you want to get. Remember, don’t wait to feel unselfish; show your love by acting unselfishly.
Endurance: When other people have given up and left, agape love will still be there, hanging in with someone. It will endure all things. It will keep listening to someone, even when you think you cannot listen to another word.
These are just a few of the many love actions available to us. And we can demonstrate these attitudes and actions toward people, whether we like them or not, by God’s grace. Ask God to help you today to show love through your actions, even to that person you don’t really like very much. Don’t feel guilty about not liking them, just act toward them in loving ways, and watch what happens.