Dear friends, let us love one another because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  The one who does not love does not know God because God is love.  1John 4:7-8 HCSB

I want you to read this scripture passage carefully.  You cannot claim to know God and to love God if you don’t have love for your fellow man.  The Bible has a lot to say about love.  In 1Corinthians 16:14, we are instructed to let all that we do be done in love.  In John 13:34-35, we are told to love one another as this is how people will know that we are his disciples.  Colossians 3:14 tells us to put on love because love binds everything together in perfect harmony.  1 Peter 4:8 tells us that love covers a multitude of sins.

Now I don’t know about you, but I have a multitude of sins that need to be covered.  I like the way Colossians 3:14 tells us to put on love.  Some people are just very easy to love, but others not so much.  When we encounter those that are very difficult to love, we have to literally put love on.  I mean think about it this way.  If you are going out into a rain storm, wouldn’t you put things on like rubber boots and a rain coat?  If you are going out into the freezing cold, wouldn’t you bundle up in warm clothes.  Well, when you are going to encounter and deal with someone who is unlovable, you need to wrap yourself in love.  You need to put this love on and wear it into every situation,  especially when dealing with our enemies.  Luke 6:35 tells us to love our enemies.  Yes, I know, this is very hard to do.  But toughen up buttercup, the Bible usually requires us to do the hard stuff, even loving our enemies.

It is so easy to fall into the devil’s trap.  We go to church and we love our church family and we profess to be good little Christians.  Then Monday we step into the world and Bam!  There it is!  Mr. Impossible-to-Deal-With right there in our face.  Now what are we gonna do?

Well, that depends on whether you are gonna do it the world’s way or God’s way. If you do it the world’s way, it’s simple you punch them or do something to show them that you can be just as hard to love as they can. Now, this will do two things for you. First, it will keep your little feud going. Second, it will show the world that you can be just as mean and nasty as the enemy and as an added bonus, it will help to destroy your witness. But, if you do it God’s way, the first thing I would recommend is to pray about it. Pray for that person, your enemy, as we are instructed to do in Matthew 5:44. Ask God to remove all bitterness and anger and hatred from your heart. Now you may have to pray this prayer repeatedly for a while, just saying. Trust God to deal with this enemy as He promises he will do (Romans 12:19).

Now let me say that I know this is extremely difficult to do. I have done it and I have enemies that still cause me to do these things time and time again. Why? Because these enemies continue to offend me and those that I love. Now, this is impossible to do without love.  We are told to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. When do this first and we focus on Him, it makes the other stuff a little easier.  I didn’t say easy, I just said a little easier.

But we must remember what the bible tells us in 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, we are nothing without love.  I don’t care what kind of rock star you may think you are, without love you have nothing. So, today I ask you to do a little self examination and ask yourself if you have love.  Without it, we’re nothing and we can do nothing.

Jesus lived as a perfect example for us.  When we were his enemies, he loved us.  When we sin and don’t love, we become His enemies.  He’s all about love and He expects us to be all about love too.  After all, he loved us enough to die for us (John 15:13, John 3:16).

Some people think that Revelation is a pretty scary book of the bible, but I think that today’s scripture passage can be a little scary.  It says, Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.   You can’t not love others and profess to be a Christian. That’s the bottom line, so again I say toughen up buttercup. it’s easy to punch someone out or be angry with them and hold bitterness in your heart. It takes a very strong Christian to love even when you feel like responding in a like manner to someone who is lost. Focus on God and trust in Him. Oh, and being in constant prayer helps a great deal also.  He will show you the way. I know this from personal experience.

Have a great weekend!