A wise mentor once described love in a way that changed my understanding of love. It changed how I view other people, especially those I might not like or agree with. He said, “Love is seeking the highest good for another person.” I wish I could say I have always loved this way, but sadly, I have failed more times than I want to admit.

What would it look like if we sought the highest good for another person? To answer that question, we would need to understand the difference between God’s highest good for someone and our demand that people live as we do, choose our particular flavor of politics, hold our worldview, or agree with our religious beliefs.

Today, you may have an opportunity to view the face of someone you have been programmed to view with disgust. How would you seek the highest good for that person? Some of you might go to work returning to an environment created by an emotionally unhealthy supervisor where division and malice fill the air. How would you seek the highest good for that person?

Seeking the highest good for another person is easy when we agree with each other. To seek the highest good for a relationship or situation outside our sphere of comfort and approval is where the real test of the quality of our love is discovered. This is the place where Jesus does His most exceptional work. It is a painful Cross-like experience where we allow ourselves to be nailed by love to relationships where we continue to seek the highest good of another person no matter what the response.