Ali Elizabeth

“Loving Others Isn't Always Easy”

Have you ever found it hard to love someone?

Of course you have. If I’m being honest, sometimes people can be difficult, can’t we? They say the wrong things, make choices we don’t understand, or simply rub us the wrong way. As much as we’d like to think otherwise, loving others doesn’t always come naturally.

This week at church, we talked about loving our brothers and sisters. On the surface, that sounds simple enough. After all, as Christians, aren’t we supposed to love one another? But the truth is, even Christians struggle with this every day.

It’s easy to love people who agree with us, support us, and make us feel comfortable. It’s much harder to love people who challenge us, disappoint us, or see the world differently than we do.

You can’t hate someone because of their political views and claim to be walking in love. You can’t gossip about someone’s finances, mistakes, or personal struggles and still say you’re showing them the love of Christ. You can’t tear someone down behind closed doors while smiling at them in public and expect that to reflect God’s heart.

The reality is that we all fall short. Sometimes we let pride get in the way. Sometimes we allow anger, frustration, or judgment to take root in our hearts. Sometimes we convince ourselves that certain people are simply too difficult to love.

But Jesus never said loving others would be easy. In fact, some of His strongest teachings came when He instructed people to love those who were difficult to love. He didn’t tell us to love only those who think like us, vote like us, worship like us, or live like us. He simply told us to love.

Let me be clear here that it doesn’t mean we have to agree with everyone. It doesn’t mean we ignore wrongdoing or pretend differences don’t exist. 

It means we choose kindness over cruelty, grace over gossip, and compassion over condemnation.

I know I am not perfect and I fail at this sometimes. We all do. There are days when extending grace feels impossible. There are moments when judgment comes much quicker than understanding.

Maybe this week we can all take a moment to ask ourselves a simple question. Is there someone I’ve stopped loving well? If the answer is yes, you’re not alone.

The good news is that every day gives us another opportunity to try again. Another opportunity to choose love. Another opportunity to reflect Christ a little better than we did yesterday.

And in a world that seems increasingly divided, maybe that’s exactly what we need.