Sometimes these people in our life are super lovable,
super fun, just plain super to be around. But let’s be honest, some people are
not very easy to like.  How do we like
the unlikable? We are going to figure out today how to love the unlikable.

It is really easy for us to say, “What would Jesus
do?”  But if we don’t know what Jesus did
then how do we answer that question.

When Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount, He was
giving instruction on how to live. He was blowing the minds of the people that
were listening, especially the people that lived strictly by the law. For the whole
sermon go to Matthew 5-7.

What did Jesus say about people we don’t “like”? The
“I” in this verse is Jesus talking.

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love the neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 
Matthew 5:43-44

Wow.
That is totally counter culture, even today. Love your enemies and pray for
those who persecute you.

I have
to say that I am guilty. Do I pray for the people that persecute me or even the
people that irritate me? Honestly, I think that we hope the other person will
change. We think there is clearly something wrong with them if we don’t like
them.

I have
to be honest here. I have prayed for people to change and for other people to
see their own flaws. For them to be nicer or easier to get along with. But pray
for them in the sense that Jesus is telling us to pray?

Maybe
we have not prayed for them to change. Maybe we have completely omitted prayer
and we are just mean to someone or equally irritating.  

God has a purpose for us. It is for us to change. It is for us to have a transformed life. It is for
us to be more like Him. This is why
He instructs us to pray for others.

What happens when our prayer for our family member, co-worker,
or neighbor is for us to love them
more? What happens when we pray for God to change our hearts to show His love and not our own? What happens when we
pray for God to let us see people
with His eyes and not ours?

We begin to love them like He loves them. We begin
to see the beautiful creation that He has given us. We begin to praise Him for
the people that He has put in our path.

You may be saying, “You don’t know what that person
did to me.” You may be thinking, “You don’t know how bad this person is.”

You are right. Trust me; I have to rely on God to
change my heart. I have to use the power of the Holy Spirit that resides in me
to change me to see people the way He sees them.

If you still think this is impossible, let us look
at this story.

You may be familiar with this story. It is about a
man who was taken in the middle of the night. Guards came in the night like a thief
and took Him away. One of His closest friends betrayed Him with a kiss to the
cheek and sold Him out for thirty silver coins.

Not guilty was the verdict by the local government. The
local people, however, hated Him. He was spit upon and stripped of His clothes.
They beat Him within an inch of His life to the point He was barely
recognizable. People surrounded Him shouting, “Crucify Him. Crucify Him.”  

After all of that, He was forced to walk through town carrying the cross
that would be used to hang Him to death. He had nails put through His hands and
feet to keep Him in place. He had a crown of thorns crushed onto His head.

And don’t miss this part. As He hung on the
cross for all to see, do you know what He did?

He prayed.

He prayed for you and me.

He said, “Father forgive them for they know not what
they are doing.”

He prayed. To His Father, he prayed for them. He
prayed for us.

How could Christ be in the position of death, death
of the most humiliating kind and pray for me? Pray for you?

So if you are asking yourselves right now, “How can
I pray for them?”

Because He did it for you. Because His love for us
came first. He will give us love for them but we need to take the step and ask
for His help. We have to pray to look beyond what the eyes see, what our
feelings say, and look to Christ to do what He does best. To Love!

Here is where you begin to transform. Take five
seconds. If it takes that long. Think of one person that just gets to you. One
person that makes you grit your teeth when you think of them. Pray for them. Pray
for God to give you a new outlook on them. Pray for their family. Pray for
their job. Pray for the stresses in their life. Maybe it is just simply saying
their name and laying them before God. 

Do this all week. Come back next week
and tell me how it went. Good, bad, or everything in between. Let us know.
Encourage us with your comments below and Share so others can be encouraged.

You may enjoy these other popular posts:

 

He Gives You Purpose