Love Them Right Where They Are

Love Them Right Where They Are

One of the great stories of the Bible is the story of Jonah and the great fish.

If you are not familiar, God told Jonah to go to Nineveh to preach to them about how wicked their city had become. They had become evil and Jonah did not like Ninevah at all.

So, Jonah came up with his own plan. He decided that he would go as far away from Nineveh as he could. That way, he wouldn't have to save them.

Well, as we know, God stopped Jonah and he ended up preaching to Nineveh after all. The whole city turned their hearts back to God and God blessed them for it.

When most people talk about Jonah, they want to talk about the whale. That’s the exciting part—how Jonah got thrown into the sea and swallowed by a fish. People love that part. But here is the most important part of the story.

Jonah really hated Nineveh. I mean, he really hated them. He hated them so much that he was willing to die to keep God's love from reaching them! Thank about that. He left his home and fled to an unknown land because of his hatred.

That’s not how the God of the Bible does things. God is love, says the Bible. In its pages, God's love is displayed throughout. In fact, Jesus told His followers that that’s how the the world would know who they were: simply because of their love.

That means that love should define who we are and what we do! This is how we should act towards people that we find difficult to love:

Matthew 5:44

"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven."

Who do you have a hard time loving? Pray for them today. God loves them and you should, too. You will find that your prayers for them will also break down the walls that keep you from loving them the way you should.

1 John 4:16

“We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”