By Rosie Moore

The hardest thing in the world to do is to love the “unlovely.”  People who have hurt you, people who hate you, people who treat you meanly—yet those are the very ones that God tells us to love.

I came across a little book titled “Nine Fruits of the Spirit.” Here is what I read:

“The Bible’s most succinct definition of love can be found in 1John 4:16. GOD IS LOVE. Simple, to the point, complete, easy to remember. Notice that it does not say, “God does love when He feels like it.”

The toughest thing about love is being loving to others. Some people are easy to love, but what about those unlovely people, those enemies? How is it possible to love like God loves?  It’s an impossibility for us human beings.

It can’t be done alone. It can only be done in  the power of the spirit and the transformation of the spirit. You will be able to love the unlovable. These are the people you’d rather avoid being around. They may be like running fingernails on a chalkboard in your life—irritating.

Without manifestation of love, would we have missionaries? Would there be hospitals? Would there be hospice ministries? Would there be shelters for abused women and children?

So the crucial test is the capacity to love all kinds of people. It is the fruit of the Spirit at work making real changes in this world.

Thought for the day: I have wept in the night

For the shortness of sight

That to somebody’s need

I was blind.

But I never have yet

Felt a twinge of regret

For being a little too kind. Author unknown.

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