How to Love Mean People
I usually wake up everyday with a positive attitude, anticipating a good day. While sometimes the days are not so “good”, I still appreciate them because I was given the opportunity to experience them. Thankfully the good Lord felt it appropriate to let me enjoy, or endure depending on the day, the experiences that I met with that day. I try to be very cordial and nice to the people I work with, but there are always those few, that no matter how nice I am they seem to find it necessary to be mean to me. I don’t know why, maybe it is because they are miserable at work, or just aren’t very friendly with people to begin with.
I am sure this is something everyone experiences at least once in their lives. There is always that one or two people that are just mean. Maybe they are just mean to you, or they are mean to everyone. Sometimes they can be coworkers, family or just someone you have to deal with all the time.
Sometimes it can almost ruin your day experiencing the things that they say or do to you or others. So how do we treat these people with love and actually feel love for them. It requires a lot of fortitude and perseverance. But with temperance and patience we can do it.
The first question may be, why should we love someone who is consistently mean to us or others? If they don’t treat us with respect, why should we treat them with respect, and even beyond that, with charity? Why should I be charitable and help that person out? Read here to see more on Why We Should Love All People.
Now, how is it that we go about loving those who are mean to us? This isn’t an easy task, and so we need to make sure we ask God for help. The first thing we must do is to pray. It doesn’t hurt to incorporate this into our daily prayers either. It is also good to recall that this is in the prayer that our good Lord taught us, “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Prayer is the most powerful tool we have.
Next we need to realize, that even though we may treat a person with love and respect, they may never change. But this is alright. We are not looking to change how others act, but how we act and feel towards them. If they do change, then even better, for the good Lord will have worked through you to make them a better person. And if they do ever ask you why you are still so nice to them, then you now have an opportunity to share faith in Christ with them.
Now once we have asked God for help, and come to terms that this person may never change, then we can move on to the next step.
The days you are going to see this person or people, take a moment in the morning and think about them. Then think about Jesus and the wonderful things he has done for you. Then go back to thinking about them. Then switch back to Jesus and how he created these people. Think about how Jesus loves them. Then imagine Jesus in their place. Think of them as Jesus. Do this a few times in the morning.
This may sound kind of silly, but when you do this it takes the idea of those people and closely correlates it with Jesus. When you see them next your mind will remind you of Jesus, and that He is inside of them. You will want to love them regardless of their behavior, because you will remember that when you treat them with love, you are treating Jesus with love.
The trick here is that you are trying to remind yourself, before you slip into an attitude of dislike, or hate.
This exercise doesn’t only apply to mean people. You should be correlating every person you interact with each day with Jesus. This is because:
Mathew 25:34-40 – Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
This is not an easy task, and it is something that we may never fully succeed at in this life. However, the headway that we make will be much worth it. When we act out the will of God, it is always fulfilling.
Your brother in Christ,
Chad Parker
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