A thought by John Townsend from his book, Loving People (p.31). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)
Yes, but we sure do want it, don’t we?
John says, “And the unkind, self-centered, destructive people in your life are so bereft of love that they often need a miracle to get them out of their mess. And that is what the good news of Christ is all about: ‘For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.’(1 Peter 3:18) It is our very state of unrighteousness that moved God’s heart to reach out and love us in an unfathomable way.”
He then says, “This is important to understand in relationships. When you truly love someone in a mature way, you seek the person’s best, but you also seek the person, as much as that is possible. That is, love goes further than tolerating someone or having the ability to stand being in his or her presence. That certainly may be all you can do in a very difficult relationship, and that is good. But as you grow in your ability to become a loving person, you will find that you can, over time, ‘love the sinner and hate the sin,’ as the old preachers say. And the reason this is important is that unlovable people, like all people, need to be sought, not tolerated. Everybody needs to be sought after in love. God sought us out while we were shaking our fists at him, because he knew we needed this. That is how we are to be toward others.”
And that is so true, isn’t it?
Yes, yes!
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