I'm sure that everyone of us has felt the difficulty in loving people at times. We're capable of love, so we can't be all that bad, right? Yeah, it's easy to love the "lovely people", but what about the other 45% of the world? 60%? 90%? Speaking from experience, even married couples can come to a point where they may say, "we just don't love each other anymore". And (let's face it, parents, we are the major factor in the development of our kids) there are children who don't know how to love one another. How can these children grow up and raise healthy loving families of their own? (We are those "children" btw)

This is why we need need the Bible more now than ever. Whether we want to see or admit it in ourselves, it does show us how to love one another.

This is not a break-through idea - Look at how Jesus answered the Sadducees:

You cannot even begin to love others without first loving God. He has provided & protected you, because He loves you. Despite how "messed up we may be", parents can see "God's love" in how they love their own children. And as disciples, He is the Source of all: hope, forgiveness, strength & love. Through Him, we can love all of our neighbors.

Jesus second command was for us to love our neighbors - Not easy at times but He wouldn't give us something that we couldn't do. Problem is, wanting to do it... different story.

There are a ton of scriptures that tell us on how to love others, but it also tells us to love our enemies (and maybe because we may not see "the unlovable" as enemies, but we may treat them as such). Forgiveness & to be careful with out hearts so we don't hate one another, are things Jesus had spoken about for His disciples.

Look at how Jesus re-spoke the Hebrew scriptures with His disciples:

As much as we may not want to accept it, we cannot rest on the idea that we can no longer love someone, we are deceived because the Bible clearly states that we are commanded to love one another, even our enemies.

The thing that I struggle with is, I keep forgetting what people bring to "our table". I don't know what they struggle with, or are insecure from, or what's hurt or affected them and turned them into the person that they may be (at times)... I know that I can only be accountable for my actions\responses, but loving someone can also mean that my concern for them is greater than a concern for myself - a defensive concern, at that.

But I also have to keep in mind the baggage that i've brought to every table (and still do). I am no better than "the unlovable". But it's easier to live life (and disobey God) by forgetting that and using it as an excuse.

The type of love that God commands us is an action. Action takes effort, and as with anything else, it improves with practice. Our goal is to be like Jesus, but not Jesus Himself - that's an impossibility. Even trying to be like Jesus is a battle in itself, but we are not facing this battle alone - We have God on our side, and He has never lost. And believe it or not, we are the weakest link in that army. But He strengthens & encourages us to continue fighting, and loves us when we fall (and we do fall).

How often do we pray about our inability to love others? If it's God's greatest commandment, and we're not praying about it quite often, then what are we praying about? God's love is more than enough motivation for us to love others.