This is how we know

This is going to be a bit short but it's something that really convicted my heart today. There's always that one person in life that you find hard to love, that one person that seems to get under your skin by merely being around you. I don't mean love as in the boyfriend/girlfriend sense but in the sense that I desire what is best for the person, even above my own needs. Posed with this challenge, I usually do what my heart tells me to do. I ignore the person. The plain honest truth is that I don't make much of an effort to love the people that irritate me.

We talked about this at leaders meeting today, about how as leaders of our Christian fellowship, we especially are to reach out to those who are harder to love and to set an example for everyone else. Now, there's this one guy that's a bit clingy. Clingy people creep me out a bit. And like I said earlier, when a person is hard to love, my initial response is to not love him or her. But I started to think of it in this manner. Jesus Christ died on the cross to save me from my sins. At that point, he knew full well that I would rebel. In my rebellion and disobedience, I am hard to love but God loves me continually, faithfully, and whole heartedly. I am called to do the same, to love as God first loved us.

That type of love is one that sacrifices for others. So if I'm irritated a little bit by this person's clingyness, so what? Suck it up, Chris. If bearing with the clingyness is what will make this guy feel welcome at our fellowship, so be it. It's a small cost for such a great gain, being able to fellowship with another believer in Christ.

1 John 3:16
"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."