“I’ve discovered that if people are not on my heart, they’re on my nerves.”                       Pastor Rick Warren

Struggling to find a New Year’s resolution?  Maybe we could start with Jesus’ suggestion: “Love your enemies and bless those who persecute you.” Of course, it’s not a suggestion.  Seriously hard to do…but no one did it better than Jesus. His capacity for love is infinite. How else could he forgive his crucifiers while hanging in agony on the cross? Still, we make it so hard.  Why can’t we love like he does?                                                                           Saint Augustine said, “Good for good, evil for evil, that is natural. Evil for good, that is devilish. Good for evil, that is divine.”  Dave would say I need a little work in the “divine” department. I told him I’m going to get my Conceal-and-Carry license.  He is concerned.  Not that I won’t pass the test but that I might kill someone.  I’ve given that a lot of thought.  I don’t think I would kill thugs who ransack an Apple store or help themselves to racks of clothing or purses.  But I might wound them.  If they were threatening a loved one, however?  Dave might have reason to be concerned.  Does that make me unloving?                                                                I read about a young couple who went to see their pastor to try and get him to approve their divorce because, as they put it, “There’s no feeling left.” The pastor told the husband to love his wife as Christ loved the church. The husband said, “I can’t do that.” The pastor asked him to love her as he would love himself. Again, the said that ‘I can’t do that’. So the pastor said, “The Bible says to love your enemies. Try starting there.” (Is it possible to love someone you shoot?)                                                                                                                                                  Just how do we love the unlovable?  The first step is remembering God’s love for us when were/are unlovable. Beauty and the Beast illustrates this well, and it certainly represents how we are loved by God.   After all, there’s a little beast in all of us.  Scripture says that none of us are sinless, yet God loves us.  “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) His love is not based on my goodness; nor is it based on my prayer life or my Bible reading or how many cookies I made for the church potluck. I didn’t have to work out my imperfections or do any good deeds for Him to love me.  He loves me, beast that I am.                                                      The second step to loving the unlovable is to recognize that the people we aren’t loving are no different than us.  We have no right to set ourselves in the lofty position of choosing not to follow God’s mandate to love them.  1 Corinthians 13:4-5 tells us how we are to act: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” God loves like that and calls us to do likewise.

The ability to love the unlovable, to hate the sin but to love the sinner, represents God’s divine nature.        In 2023, I’m going to work on loving the unlovely.  I guess I’ll figure out that shooting thing later.