Loving the "Unlovable"

This topic has been on my mind for the past few weeks so i thought i'd just share some of my thoughts. Over the summer, i worked in a small independent pharmacy about 10minutes from town. Due to the nature of my work, i'd be encountering drug addicts on a daily basis. Initially, my heart was full of compassion and love for them and I wanted to show love for them. However, several unpleasant incidents (mostly related to shoplifting) happened where I was verbally abused by some customers though I had done nothing wrong. This caused me to recoil... I was pretty shaken that I started to view each customer with suspicion. The entire week i felt horrible , because my trust in them has been betrayed and I felt i could not trust any of them anymore. I felt horrible also because love has been replaced by distrust.

After that week, i realised that i could not longer live this life not trusting anyone, building a wall to keep out others and preventing them from hurting me. I decided to choose to love and trust again. This does not mean that I trust them blindly, I try to be more vigilant but not paranoid. This has been a difficult lesson to learn .. how do you love people who are hostile to you? How do you love people who hurt and betray you? In a nutshell, how do you love someone who simply do not deserve our love and forgiveness?

If given a choice, many of us would choose to love , forgive and show kindness to people whom we deem deserving of our goodwill. People who repay evil for good, people who don't show their appreciation/take us for granted or people who did horrible things are considered less deserving of our love, grace and understanding. By doing so, we are giving out conditional love. This type of love demands a reciprocal act. The world knows how to give out conditional love. In fact, sometimes, they are better than Christians in showing love for their friends and loved ones. What the world needs is unconditional love. The type of love that demands no benefit in return, that are given out of a willing heart for those who do not deserve it.

Matthew 5:46-48 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

The world cannot give this kind of love (Agape) because it is not aware of God's love for them. But if we, as disciples of Christ are able to demonstrate this type of love to those that the society deem "unlovable" , I believe that the world will "see" Christ through us! For no man can love like this in his own strength, only one who has can truly comprehend the extend of God's love for us can show this unconditional love to another human.

I was on the Rainbow 5 the other day when i overheard a guy trying to convince his girlfriend that God doesn't exist, the world isn't created by God and if there is a God, it need not necessarily be Jesus. Apparently, someone must have tried to explain to them that even if they dont believe in His existence, He still exists , because there are people who knows God. If i'm not mistaken it should be the same analogy that Kenny Gan used: I have a friend name James, even if you don't know him, never seen him before, he exists because I know him.

The guy's argument was, he's never seen God..and many ppl can't claimed to have seen God with their eyes or provide photographic proft of His existence. At that moment, I totally agree with him. Yes, man may not be able to "see" God , but they are able to see the body of Christ on earth. Where is the body of Christ when it's most needed? The answer is simple: we're the body of Christ! we're His hands to do good work, show acts of kindness and love, we're His feet that bring the gospel, we're His mouth that speaks His words. Guess what I did? it's quite comical actually... i plucked up my courage, dished out a booklet containing the gospel according to Mark and gave him one. haha.. i bet it shocked him . I'm not trying to mock him, or trying to get back at him for mocking God, my desire is to send him one little message: the body of Christ is alive! and it's doing the will of Christ (head of the body).

May this little incident be an encouragement to all... wherever you are, you are the body of Christ ! Don't lose your saltiness, continue to reflect His glory! Amen

Challenge: Are there people around you that are difficult to love? Do you avoid them?

What about people who are considered "weird" or "difficult" or "troublemaker" by society? Do you shun them? Do you actively seek to befriend and understand them; and not judge them based on how the society stereotype them?

If we care to spend more time knowing people in depth before we judge them, we'll find that there's no one who's "unlovable". Each man and woman is precious in God's eyes. He sent His only Son to die, not just for the righteous , but for the unrighteous too!

*Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick."