5:30am on my way to work today,For some strange reasons,I took a long an intense look at every stranger that came across my path. It was a little weird to me „why would I be doing this?“. A little small voice in my mind asked. I couldn’t actually provide an answer to this actual question but it opened me up to the position of my heart towards this people. It wasn’t one of totally disgust or disdain towards them but it wasn’t fully the opposite too, It was something around neutral but a little towards negative. Then immediately a redeeming voice welled out of my heart and said „God loves this person“.Hearing this can sound very basic and that was my first reaction to it. But this pushed me to keep looking at many other people who weren’t as well kept and organised physically, who were smoking, with some kind of stench, or looking sad, just to mention a few. The more I looked at them with this view that Jesus loves them too, then if I wanted to speak with them ,it would have erupted from a place of love.

Look,God loves every soul that we come across, the beggar, the smoker, the drunkard, the dirty, the clean, the flashy, the rude ,the unwelcoming, the aggressive and beautiful! I know it is easy to love the cheerful and beautiful ones but a little more difficult or almost impossible to love those who are not all of that. But we are called to Love regardless of any of those. Maybe those that need this love more are those that aren’t the closest to Him.

I watched a video by Immaculee Ilibagiza, a survivor of Rwandan Holocaust. She found God in the amidst the holocaust, that’s besides the point.At a juncture in her story she was faced with a challenge.It was one of the murderers standing 5cm opposite her threatening to kill her because she was obviously part of the tribe that was being murdered and they have been looking for her all along.Seems like he knew her family before the war because he said that every member of her family is already dead, just her.He was close to killing her but she stated something that really was outstanding.Instead of her quietly cursing or gathering hate in her heart for him at that instance, she decided to pray for him because God also loves him.She prayed that God should soften his heart and just don’t allow her get killed.After a few minutes of intense stare into her heart through her eyes, he walked away from her without hurting her, what a sigh of relief. Immaculate chose to see a soul that God really loves also and decided to also extend that love in her heart through her prayers for him.See,God also want the murderers, drunkards, perverted, unjust, wicked people to turn to Him because He loves them too.He gave His son for them too.God does not intend for any one of His creatures to be lost or die really,He wants everyone saved, no wonder THE GREAT COMMISSION. This explains the extent of His love.

Our high priest when He was on the cross,He also expressed this kind of love for those that crucified Him, despite free from any sin he bore the sins of those that killed Him and at the point of death,HE forgave them saying “They do not know what they’re doing”. Huh, that is a lot really.I feel the weight of that love whilst writing this.Jesus is Love!

I don’t think there is a difference between knowing God and loving people. When the Bible said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and all its righteousness……. I want to believe that the kingdom of God is also people because a kingdom is not a geographical area but a people! So, seek that good of the people of this earth.Your neighbours, friends, work mates, including the bad and the good equally, I mean that was what He did for us on the cross and even before we decided to love Him too.

How about we have a shift of heart when it comes to love, we don’t only love those that love us, we love everyone.And not because of they maybe deserving of it from our view but because of God loves them.Aren’t we to do His will? Isn’t this His will? To love Him and love those around us? This is a hack that I have also learnt on managing relationships with people. Sometimes it is like this,Jesus loves this person actually,I wouldn’t do this or speak like this to this person,I won’t gossip about his person because Jesus loves them too. How would Jesus love it when I make them sad, they are also His children, they are also made in His image,He also died for them,He also wants them to be saved and know Him better, please do not stand in His way of achieving that.Can we be an extension of His to those that we think do not deserve it? Because they actually loved by Him. Look, we were once like them and still God loved us! Jesusss. Imagine we embody this kind of love to everyone, especially those we think or rightfully believe that aren’t deserving of it, watch and see how His love can permeate hearts. The love of God is just wholesome people of God.

This is a great cure for anger and over reaction.When you have been hit by someone on the street or talked over by someone, your first instinct maybe to make them know that they didn’t behave properly at least, how about you change that and instead love on them from your heart.Understanding first that Jesus loves that person and they have lot going on in their lives. Marcus Aurelius said that “You wouldn’t run short of those sort of people on the road, but give them grace”.There is no shortage of them on the busy streets of Alexanderplatz or the sandwiched S Bahn.But this is a choice but more of s commandment, when you decide to see Jesus in people or at least see His love for them too, you won’t be so quick to release words or throw stares at them.Instead just like Jesus and Immaculia, with love you say,FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO. Because if they knew better, and had also experienced this love, they may not be doing this.

You can see how much seeing people and loving them from God’s lens would keep you peaceful and in right standing with Jesus? How peaceful would it be to be leader, friend, coworker, husband ,wife ,housemate if we love like christ and see people like entities like us that Jesus also love? How can we not? How should we not? Most sins we commit against God is as a result of lack of the knowledge of His love for us and the inability to replicate it to others that he also made in His image. See, when we come to the knowledge of God’s love for us and start loving Him, then it all clicks! If you strive so much not to hurt God,how much do you think you would hurt your neighbour(All those around you).We have to get to the level that we do not do things just because of Jesus’ love for us and His love for people too, because sometimes that is the only reason left not to throw hands or rattle our tongues and throw foul words.

It is a process, but please pray and ask Him for grace, out lives would be more pleasing to God .

Please share this post;