Jesus loves you but...

Okay so I know it is probably not a wise thing to laugh at but I have to chuckle every time I see one of those bumper sticks that says, "JESUS LOVES YOU but everyone else thinks you're an ***hole." In reality that seems to be the case with people we encounter in our lives. We have to admit that Jesus loves them (as He does all people) but yet they drive us absolutely insane. The things they say, the things they do, the things they think, etc. This weekend I got the opportunity to teach on unity as well as listen to my buddy Jeremy teach on the same topic. While preparing for my message and while listening to his, I kept coming back to those people in my life that I cannot stand. I don't like them. I don't want to be around them. I cringe when I have to deal with them. What do you do with them? To what level of relationship does God call us to have with those types of people in our lives? How much love do we really need to put into those people? Sad - even in typing this I sense myself wanting to justify some minimal amount of effort into building unity with those people. Sure I want them to go to heaven God, but can they stand on the opposite side of me? I feel challenged though to move beyond my selfish, minimal standard. I don't know if I can ever be friends with some of these people - but at the very least they deserve to be treated well, prayed for, and when I can help them out for me to do so. The ironic thing is that my character is more revealed in dealing with them then it is in dealing with those closest to me. So we'll see. It was a challenging & convicting weekend. Hopefully stepping forward I'll do better and not simply shooting for the minimum amount of love when dealing with them. Unity may be hard to attain, but it certainly worth the effort.