There is no doubt that every day we have to deal with difficult people. But the Bible teaches us how to deal with them in that that love endures for the long haul. Love is what will help us overcome those who may be giving us trouble. In Romans, 15:5-6 Paul is talking about living in harmony with one another, and then he asks for help from the God who gives endurance and encouragement. Those two elements, endurance and encouragement, work together, hand and hand. When we’d like to stop reaching out to a difficult person trying to make things right God allows us to endure to keep on plugging on even when things are rocky.
But let’s remember, God is more than a God of endurance. He is a God of encouragement. He brings light and joy to our soul as we strive to bring Him glory through our relationships. The road of relational harmony is difficult and we need God to give us encouragement.
So when we are ready to give up on certain people, we need to ask God to encourage us and remind us that because He is for us no one can be against us (Romans 8:31). It is His encouragement that moves us to repent of our own self focus, and give us the desire to try again with others.
When we see how difficult authentically loving others is, we need to be reminded of all the riches that are ours in Christ. Remember, God gives us so much relational wealth, that we can easily afford to give it away to others. Your relationship with God can be so strong that the love you receive from Him can be shared with others. And since we are giving out of our access, we don’t need to coax a handout from anyone else. Our love comes from God because He is love.
Let’s pray what Paul prays in Ephesians 3:14–19…
“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”
Imagine if we prayed these words for those difficult people? It might give us a different perspective.
For the Lord,
Alex