People and Radical Love

"I love mankind; it's people I can't stand." -Charles Schulz, author of Peanuts
 

Haiti playground team, 2012

I'm a classic introvert. I can be outgoing, but it is exhausting. After spending time around people, I need time alone to recharge. I care very deeply about people but it takes a lot out of me after awhile.
 
But here's the deal. Jesus loves people. He loves each and every person who ever was or will be born. Loves enough to lay down His life for each of us.
 
I know what that kind of love is like. I have looked down the barrel of a loaded gun and was willing to die to protect someone I loved. It's not an experience I would care to repeat, but it has taught me a lot about the love God has for each of us.
 
And the kicker is: if we love Him, we have to love other people too.
 

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40 NKJV

Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31

 
Getting the hint yet? In God's mind, that we love the people made in God's image is ALMOST as important as that we love God Himself. To make it even clearer:

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. 1 John 4:20-21

 
Well, that's pretty straightforward. Can't get a lot clearer than that.
 
Now, in all those commandments to love, did you see any qualifying factors in there about WHO to love? There's no footnote in there, no loopholes to get you out of needing to love any person or group of persons. It doesn't say, "Love your neighbor - unless they make you feel uncomfortable." Or, "Love your neighbor, except the ones you think are wrong; those you can stop loving."
 

939th MP Company

There is no excuse for treating any person made in the image of God in an unloving way. This doesn't mean that justice shouldn't be done or that there shouldn't be consequences for actions. Nor does it mean that there won't be people that treat you in a way that makes it very difficult. But it does mean that every person is an incredibly beloved creation of our Father, and as such is to be treated with respect and compassion.
 
After all, what have I done to deserve love? In no way am I any better than any other person out there, and yet I am loved and so are they. As Susan Cottrell says in her blog FreedHearts, "Be radically inclusive, because you have been radically included."
 
My prayer today is that we would learn to love like God does; that He would show us how to love the people with whom we come in contact; and that we would stop judging one another, leave that up to God, and simply love as we have been loved.