I have caught myself many times in my life with the mindset of "if they don't like me/if they are not like me, I will not like them." It has been one of my biggest struggles in life.
With the city of Orlando being under attack from many things, I have prayed for the people who have been affected by the attacks. I do not even know these people, but Jesus Christ tells us to love them as He would.
But when it comes to people who should be the closest to me, I have gone out of my way to not show them love because they are different from me. They dress different, listen to different music, they have different values than what I have, even though they have had almost the same upbringing as me. I had the mindset of "they are not like me, so I am not going to like them."
Last week, I had a conversation with my mom about some choices that someone had made that I did not agree with. My heart broke for this person because I knew that they knew better, but I did not want to be around them. Later that day I received an email from Proverbs 31 Woman. Every day I strive to be a woman of God, as described in Proverbs 31.
The email talked about how there was a situation and the writer decided that she was not like her. Later she called her mom and told her about the choice that the writer had made.
"...You can either continue to be a Christian, to love God and all those He has created, or you can decide to go against God and despise His creation... but not both."
After reading that section of the article, I was shocked because I had never thought that when you did not like someone, you are making the decision to despise the creation of Jesus Christ.
I began to think about Jesus being perfect and that I (a sinning human) am not perfect in anyway whatsoever. Every day I am unworthy of Jesus's love and mercy, but He loves us unconditionally. He has shown us grace upon grace upon grace.
I have been convicted of despising God's creations and not loving them, even though they are not like me. Instead of judging them for their actions and things that make them unique, I have begun to pray for them. That is a small step, but first I had to pray for myself for forgiveness and a change of heart.
Before I was using comments such as, "I am better than you" and "I deserve better than you because I have done things this way." Now, I am learning to use uplifting comments, such as, "you are a child of God" and "I am not better than you."
Genesis 1:27 states,"so God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
Now, I encourage you in a society where everyone is different from you, be the person who will love the way that Jesus Christ loves the church (the body of Christ, not the buildings or denominations). We are all created in the perfect image of Jesus Christ and sometimes we do not let it show. In a nation of hurting people, now is not the time to judge, but a time to love.
