It can be easy to 'not like' people sometimes huh? If Jesus told us we are love others..... does that mean I have to like them?

If you spend enough time with people eventually they will start to get on your nerves......
Heck, it may not even take any time at all for you to roll your eyes at a specific person while under your breath saying, "Gimmie a break."

Football season is upon us. America loves it's Football. By far the most watched and enjoyed sport in this country. So with the start of the season out come the crazed & outlandish fans screaming and posting on Facebook how their team is the best and your team is lousy.

It's pretty humorous to me, bordering on ridiculous - don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of my teams and I want them to win.... I just don't have the urge to tell other people that their team is going to be lousy, even if they are or aren't.

Which takes me back to annoying people.
If Jesus told us we are love others..... does that mean I have to like them?

This all began when Jesus was answering the Pharisees, the chief religious sect of that day, when they asked Him about the greatest commandment in the Law.
So He says, "Love God with everything in you, I mean all that you have and love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:36-40 - my paraphrase)

Jesus was summing up all the law in these two statements. If we love the Lord God with everything in you, all that you've got, then loving our neighbor is the natural result.
The question then is, who is our neighbor, and how do we love him or her?

Our neighbor is much more than the guy next door. It's anyone in the neighborhood, anyone in the community for that matter. To make it real simple..... it's anybody you come in contact with.

So how are we to love them?
How do you love yourself? You take pretty good care of yourself don't you? I mean you are 'very high' on your priority list.
Now I have to say, don't feel bad like I'm trying to bring a little humility into your life.... hahaha - really we all feel that way.... it's just natural to place ourselves high on our own priority list.
So... if I'm supposed to love others as I love myself.... taking care of them, thinking about them, wanting the best for them seems fine until I remember....
I DONT LIKE some folks!!!!!
Some people are rude, nasty, mean, and couldnt care less about me............
How in the world do I love THOSE people?

When we love the Lord God with everything in us, with all that we've got, we grow to recognize that everyone is part of His creation.
And God loves all creation and wants all creation with Him for eternity.
In reality folks "Love your neighbor" is not as hard as it looks on the surface.

You wanna know the secret?.................
It begins with your relationship with Jesus Christ.
Your relationship with Jesus Christ is the KEY.

If you are truly developing and cultivating a real relationship with Jesus Christ then you already know how easy it is to love the mean, nasty, unlovable people that you know or run across from time to time.
Your relationship with Jesus Christ is the key.

Are you ready for the real tough question.............?
If there are people who annoy you so, make you angry, fill your mind with hateful thoughts towards them....
Do you love them? Do you? I didn't say "like" them - I'm not talking about hanging out with them every weekend. But do you love them? Do you pray for them? For their own lives to get better and improve (like you pray for yourself and your family).
Do you long for them to know Christ themselves so they to will spend eternity in heaven?

Okay that wasn't even the tough question.... that was easy.
'Cause if they're are people in your heart that you can't stand. I mean you really despise them and you wish they would fall off the earth and be gone forever and your thoughts are if they spend eternity in Hell apart from God forever then thats their own fault for living the life they've chosen......... if that's how you feel then the tough question is.........
Wouldn't that make you question your relationship with Jesus Christ?

"For God so loved the WORLD...." that includes everyone right.

Here's the final thought: People matter to God, therefore people matter to me"

What do you think?


"We should be happy that [Jesus] did not say, 'Like your enemies.' It is almost impossible to like some people." --Martin Luther King Jr.