Loving the Unlikable...

Ever had to work with somebody that you just couldn't stand? They were rude, mean, obnoxious, insensitive and seemed to always bogart their opinions upon you as if that was the law?  Have you ever seen a person make choices that you knew were going to lead them to experiences where nobody really wanted to deal with them?  And after all of this observing, you feel lead to be the person to speak to this person. 

​​ Here is the good news part...God can give you an insight that will help to bring that person out of that tumultuous way of relating into a more peaceful way of expression and candor. God doesn't just call you. He equips you to do the work of bringing the message that can change the heart of that person. God's word is powerful enough to change even the most stubborn.

There was a man that didn't like a whole group of people because he found them to be detestable and really not good people. He knew that they would one day have to give an account for their actions. In fact, he was waiting on the day it would happen...Then God spoke to him and told him to go to this people and speak a message of hope, promise, and repentance. Warn them of the upcoming judgement that would follow their present course of action. This man was very angry with God for giving him this message to deliver. He felt that whatever punishment they get, they deserved. He rejected the assignment and tried to lose himself at sea. That very ship met a tumultuous storm, and all the people on the ship were going to be lost. Some upon the ship were spiritual and consulted for a divine answer. The answer pointed to the very one God has spoken to deliver his word to the people. He confessed and was thrown overboard. A whale came and swallowed him up. He spent three days and nights in the belly of this whale...He had plenty of time to think about what he would do and decided his attitude needed to change. He repented and asked God for another chance. Ironically, the whale released the man back at the country he had tried to get away from. (I am speaking of the story of Jonah chapters 1 through 3. referenced from the Bible. It's a very interesting story. I encourage you to read it for further detail.)

Jonah is an example of a man called to a people that he didn't like. For whatever reason, he had found them detestable, mean, and uncaring about the things of God. He knew their practices would bring judgment on them. The consequences of bad decisions are bad outcomes. But still God loved them enough to reach out through Jonah to intervene.  Jonah was not happy with God's choice to use him to facilitate the intervention. He rebelled but found in his rebellion that it was better for him to stay planted in God's direction than to stray from it. ​

God knows you

God knows that you of all people don't like drama and he calls you to speak to the persons making the most. Although you may feel some people may be "simple" and deserve the slap they are asking for,  God tells you to show his love not his judgement.  I know it may seem like a hard pill to swallow but the reality is that your God given assignment is not based on whether you like the assignment or not. It is given to you as a directive from the Lord to fulfill it's purpose for people that he also loves. 

Discovering Your Gifts

Similarly, when facing the challenge of loving the unlikable person we must also find strength to do the will of God by keeping in mind that God loved us while we were yet in our sins. (meanness, arrogance, wrecklessly defiant choices). God does not give gifts to men for them to be shown off like a spectacle without any real purpose. He gives them according the assignment he sends his children off to complete. Likewise, when you are strongly hesitant about an assignment that you feel lead to engage, think also about the insight God gives to us through his word that he "Fully equips us to every good work and charitable donation".  In the face of a stubborn mountain, God gives you the power to say to that mountain, "Be thou removed and cast into the sea" and it will be done according to your word through him. My friend, let me encourage you today to be not weary in well doing for in due season you shall reap the benefits of seeing the objectives of God's reconciliation if you faint not.  Be mindful of your assignment and ask God to reveal to you in more detail the gifts and calling he has given to you to accomplish his will on the earth.

May the peace of the Lord be with you. Amen.

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Loving the UnLikable