Love Includes Everyone

But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

— Luke 6:32 (NIV)

The Bible teaches us that love is the most important thing—"the main thing"—and we should let the main thing be the main thing in our lives. Are you majoring in things that really don't matter and paying very little attention to walking in love? For many years that was exactly what I did, and as a result I constantly felt unfulfilled and dissatisfied. I had a relationship with God; I even had a ministry to others! But I wasn’t happy, and I couldn’t understand why. It seemed like I had most of what I wanted in life, but joy evaded me. As I cried out to God to help me, He showed me that my priorities were out of line—I was more concerned with how I was being treated than with how I treated others.

Read This: Giving up fear

I believe our level of love for others can be seen (or not seen) in how we treat people, espe­cially people who don't particularly interest us or have the ability to do anything for us. According to Jesus, our love should include everybody, not just those who can pay us back. He said if you only love those who love you, what credit do you get? Even a sinner can do that!

We don't have the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to help us do easy things, but to do things that are hard and sacrificial. Loving some people is very hard. They don't act lovable, they don’t seem to want to be loved, and they certainly don't return any love shown to them. But when we start treating others as we want to be treated and not as they treat us, we’re obeying a principle that releases countless blessings and joy into our lives and makes God smile.

Prayer Starter: Father, please help me love everyone, even those who are the hardest to love. Thank You for giving me strength to show Your love to the people around me today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.