Loving difficult people is hard to do. We want to love nice people, people we like and who love us back. But Jesus said, For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? (Mat 5:46) The challenge is to love, really love people who you don’t even like.

People you don’t like probably don’t like you either, and when you respond in love, it’s going to startle them. They have to ask themselves why you would do that. It’s a way to show the grace of God to them and it may be the only way they’ll see it.

But it’s still hard to do. Chances are, you can’t do it in your own power. You need the Holy Spirit to love through you. Then you have all of heaven to bless with. That’s more than enough love for that difficult person.

But that power of love doesn’t just turn off and on like a faucet. It has to be cultivated in you. You have to allow the Holy Spirit to transform you so what you express is genuine. That takes some humility to be changed. It takes a desire to be changed, and it takes time. Lay your heart open to God and let Him make you into someone He can love through, even to difficult people.