A New Devotion - Loving the Unlikable

Here's a new devotion that I wrote. You can find a recording of this devotion at the bottom of the page.

John 15:12-17

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another."

Loving the Unlikable

You know, there’s a lot of people that I consider unlikable out there in the world. Of course, before I say anything else, I’m sure there are plenty of men and women who would include me on their unlikable list. And since the act of liking a person involves emotion rather than intention, likability is up to the beholder. In other words, I may like folks that you dislike, and vice versa. As a matter of fact, the very traits that make a person likable to me may lead you to an opposite feeling. But regardless of the “whos” and the “whys,” I think we’d agree that the world is full of folks are aren’t exactly our “cup of tea.” That’s just the way it is.

Still, that doesn’t free us from our responsibility, as followers of Jesus Christ, to love them. You see, no where did Jesus give us a loop-hole that would free us from loving our neighbor. In fact, he made it a command, that we love one another as we’ve been loved. Since everyone who believes in him knows that he chose us and has freed us and has given us hope as we look into the future, obedience would seem to be something we’d be willing to give our Savior. If not, we couldn’t appreciate what he did very much, right? You see, that’s also just the way it is. God expects us to love one another.

But right here, we’re in luck; the kind of love Jesus wants us to show others has very little to do with emotion. Rather, it’s treating those around us in a loving way. It’s responding to their needs. And it’s being gentle and kind, even when we’d love to lash out. When you get right down to it, it’s really a matter of decision rather than feelings. And because of that, as Christians, we can and should be willing to love the unlikable, because that’s exactly what Jesus did for us.