"God loves you." You've heard this throughout your life. But what about the bully who picked on you yesterday? Or the girl that taunts others by flaunting her body? Or the family member who you can't stand? Does God love them? Then why can't we?
If you're dating someone and that person really likes the movie The Sandlot, you're going to at least try to like it. Being a disciple of Christ means loving what God loves. God created each of us in his own image because he loves all of us (Genesis 1:27). He gave us the freedom to love or not to love.
What's a girl who "sleeps around" a lot often called? Does God love her less because she's misusing her body? No, so why should we? Sin pulls us away from God, not God away from us. So even if that girl can only see value in her body, it doesn't mean she isn't more. She's a child of God and deserves love and respect. It doesn't mean encouraging her to live a sinful life because that's all she is, loving her means treating her like a person with feelings rather than an object.
How can God love the family member who has brought so much pain into my life? The fact is that God does love that family member. The question we need to ask is "How can I love this person who brought so much pain in my life more?" That's what Christianity is all about, loving those who hurt us the most. Christ was begging God the Father to forgive the men who were spitting on him at his crucifixion.
Loving those who hurt us isn't easy, but God is asking us, pleading with us, to love them anyway. The way to love is to focus on the positives rather than the negatives. Trust me, it can change your life if you let it.
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