Loving everyone sounds nice. It makes great bumper stickers and t-shirt slogans, but it isn't always that easy. The challenge of loving people doesn't make it any less true or necessary, but it's often easier said than done. If we're honest, loving people is hard. It costs us something. We may have to give up our comforts, our time, our energy, or our resources. It's what Jesus did, and it's what He commissioned us to do. So why is it so hard to love people?
Jesus saw people differently. He didn't just see them with His physical eyes. He saw them with spiritual eyes. He saw the hunger, the brokenness, and the desperation within every person, which moved Him with compassion. That compassion compelled Him to heal them, share a meal with them, teach them, and ultimately die for them. We, however, fail to look with spiritual eyes and therefore have the same compassion for people who, frankly, challenge us in our flesh.
It's time to look beyond the physical. It's time to see the spiritual condition of the people around us, and to remember that we, ourselves, are in just as much need of a savior as they are.
