Those who love you...

For He makes His sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? - Matthew 5:45-46

There are just some people we can easily live without. The bully in school. That jerk who dump us for somebody with more.. The know-it-all who likes to stir things up and make our life a little uncomfortable. We surely are better off without them. Why didn't God make people who are alike in disposition? After all, "birds of the same feather… "

We tend to love those who love us. We  give them our love because we know that it will be returned. It is easier that way. No fear of rejection. No pining away of the unrequited. No challenge, either. However, God calls on us to be unconditional. "For He makes His sun rise on the bad and the good, and.. rain..  on the just and the unjust." (Mat. 5:45)

Nobody is above anybody. Or below anybody else for that matter.  We are all created equal. We're in this world together. So we must love one another. 

But this is sooo hard. How could Little Red Riding Hood love the Big Bad Wolf? How can Lex Luther love Superman? Or Harry Oslo forgive Spiderman?  How can you love somebody who just get in your nerves just by the mere sight of them?

We may think that without these "irritants", this world will be a much better place.  But God has other plans. He created the world not just for a privileged few, but for all. The good, the bad, and the ugly. They too fit in His grand design, no matter how unfit they are in our mortal eyes.  He put these people there for a reason. These people are in our lives perhaps  to teach us more about ourselves… human nature…  this world… but especially God's graciousness, His great mercy, and God's eternal love… He plants them in our lives so we may grow in His love.

Like the lyrics in the song, "We all live under the same sun. We all live under the same moon. They why, why, why couldn't we live as one?"

Love is unconditional. If we cannot find it in our hearts to love our personal "irritants", don't you think it's about time that we 911 God? To be able to love unconditionally takes more than our feeble human efforts. We need to have God on our side.