The art of loving someone other than yourself.

I recently began reading a post on Reddit, where the question was asked, “As a Christian, what do you struggle with most?” The responses are overwhelmingly similar.

Most sat around the idea of loving others. Some mentioned temptation, and others mentioned trust. But the most prevalent theme was loving others. Loving others, as a Christian, seems to be the hardest.

I wonder where this stems from. Why is it so hard for people to genuinely care about others? To me, it seems like a foreign concept, because I feel I do it well. I try to think about being intentional with strangers and new people I meet, to portray the Gospel.

But it didn’t always come “natural” to me. I worked in retail and customer service most of my late teens through my mid 20s. Retail is the very place where that type of behavior is often outwardly shown, but internally absent. Most people in retail hate people, because they see others at their absolute worst.

I had to train myself, even if by knowing that I could “get back at” rude people, by being even nicer, hoping they’d feel like such jerks for treating someone so poorly.

So, onward I went with that mentality; until I realized, maybe I should care for people for their good, not my own.

You see, I didn’t really care, all I cared about was turning nice into an insult.

That wasn’t and isn’t in the characteristic of Christ. Not in the slightest.

1 John 3:15 is often quoted, and is super powerful. And most of all, incredibly convicting in my Christian walk.

 ^“Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.”

You see, my nice face and words were not rooted in love, they were rooted in malevolence.; and that needed to change.

The Word of God called me a murderer. If you remember John 1, Jesus is referred to as the Word, so what I am saying is – Jesus was calling me a murderer. Not something you want, no matter how you slice it.

What a wake up call, it was shortly after I began to work at Apple, when this took place, and one of the things I noticed after I changed the reason for my loving others, the esteem and morale of my team changed, and my approval via customer survey began to increase.

This was something noticed, externally. Woah.

My challenge to you, reader, is to evaluate your walk, and figure out what you struggle with most. The Word will correct you and lead you. Seek it out.

Originally written for the The Blush Network.

• Saved: Uncategorized