There are some people I do not like – those who inflict pain and suffering on others, those who seek to harm others, those who act out of selfishness. But do I love them? I try to.
There is someone I know, (not local to Suffolk), who has caused much pain and distress to someone else I know. I do not like what he has done, but I want to love him, as a fellow human being who I know has much good to share.
The bible reading today from 1 John 2:3-11 says: “We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sisterlives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.”
We are called to live in obedience to God and to love our brothers and sisters. The passage in the NIV translation is entitled “Love and Hatred for Fellow Believers.” I like to think that Jesus commands us to go further, to not just love our fellow believers, but to love all our neighbours, and to even love our enemies. That love is not necessarily affection, rather it is the love that leads from our faith onto selfless giving and sacrifice.
We may not like them, we might even hate what they area doing or have done, but we are called to love them across the divide. They may irritate, annoy or even anger us, but true Christian love if we choose it, will help us to treat everyone with respect, whether or not we feel emotional affection towards them.
Prayer: Gracious and loving God, help me to love those I do not like, as well as those with whom I prefer to be. May my words and actions speak of the love that your Son Jesus showed to his enemies, to the marginalised, to the outcast. Help me to be obedient to your commands and to give without asking for any reward, to love without conditions, and to serve as you would have me do. AMEN