I have discovered over the years that there are many people that I just don't like. Sometimes I have been tempted to subscribe to Linus's philosophy of life. He once said, "The world would be a wonderful place if it weren't for people." Often those around us just have ways that really bother us. Perhaps they are overly conceited, or very braggadocios, or just plain inconsiderate. Such people challenge our efforts at building relationships.
This problem surfaced frequently between students at school when I was a teacher. When I told my students that they didnt have to like everyone but they did have to love them, they looked at me as if I were from outer space. Loving others in spite of their faults is foreign to our natural human thinking but it is necessary. God tells us we are to love even our enemies. Certainly if we want to expand our relationships and enlarge our ministry of grace to more people we must learn to love even the unlovely.
Since God has shown his love to every person at great cost we are obligated to follow his example. The Bible says that even while we were his enemies Christ gave his life for us. He did that looking ahead to the possible relationship that He could have with each of us. Our cost to establish relationships is certainly not as great as his was. Let's put forth the effort today to love even those we don't particularly like.
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