It’s hard to love some people. Some are difficult to love even on their best days. Loving the unlovely is a critical part of the Church’s mission. The most obnoxious people need to experience God’s love the most. This is a challenge because unredeemed sources constantly tell us who we should love or hate.

If we are called to prophesy to someone, the words we speak must come from God’s love. Otherwise, they will fall to the ground, sounding like brittle words of judgment without the hope of redemption.

It can be a trap thinking our love for others begins with us. God’s love has a deeper origin. His love was placed in us at the moment of our salvation. The condition of our hearts will determine if that love is released or rejected.

Paul referenced a man named Epaphras who led the Colossians to the Lord, “He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you” (Colossians 1:8). The love of God was a gift given to the Colossians at the moment they chose to follow Jesus. The same has been true for the last 2,000-plus years for each member of the Church.

God’s resident love will produce the fruit of the Spirit within us. There is a byproduct of the presence of that fruit, “Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better” (vs. 10).  

Only when the fruit of the Spirit is alive and working through us can we experience the deeper works of Christ, “For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory” (vs. 27). Discovering that deeper love is because Christ lives in us – a secret that has been revealed to all believers. 

Paul shared the reason why he worked so hard to reveal God’s love to the very people who would reject him, “That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me” (vs. 29). Paul depended not on his natural ability to love others, but on the mighty power of Christ at work within him to do what his natural mind would reject had he not been born again.  He could love the unlovely because the love of God was at work within him. The same holds true today for all who follow Jesus.