Loving People

Have you ever felt judged? Misunderstood?

There is a certain person in my life that I encounter on a regular basis who I've 'written off' as selfish and controlling. Everything about this persons body language and attitudes caused me to come to this unfair conclusion. For so long I've been unconsciously avoiding interactions and have had an insincere interest in their life for fear of being hurt by them. I've been judging them.


It was yesterday when I was asked by this individual to go out for coffee which I reluctantly agreed to doing. On the drive towards the coffee shop I felt the Holy Spirit speaking to me, "Give them a chance."Despite my presuppositions I began to open up and allow my heart to engage with this person. To my surprise, the conversation quickly went from 'talking about the weather' to things that actually matter in life. The more I became real and authentic, the more this person became real with me. I had begun to see a completely different person then I had experienced in the past months and was refreshed by their perspective and opinions. I was introduced to their heart.

It was through this experience that I realized how incapable we are as people to love others. I spent the last 6 months of my life illegitimately assuming the worst of someone without even giving them a chance to really get to know them. Isn't this unfair?

I think we love to love people who will love us. We choose the people who are safe, innocent, harmless and automatically block anyone who gives us a bad vibe. The truth is that we're afraid to love in the fear of being hurt. Instead we need to step out of our dominating fears and experience the liberty of selfless love. This is an opportunity to demonstrate the love of Jesus, a love that cares more for others than for itself, a love that always looks for the best in people.

What a great reminder. I'm grateful that the love of Jesus through me can communicate a love that I would never be able to relay on my own.


"For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7



"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39