February 23: Strength to Love the Hard People

Strength to Love the Hard People

Key Text: “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.”

How many of us truly know what it feels like to love the hard people?

The ones who test our patience.
The ones who misunderstand our intentions.

Sharon Danvers

The ones who seem to press on the very places where we are still healing.

Loving the hard people means choosing grace when it would be easier to be frustrated.
It means responding with gentleness when you feel justified to react.
It means staying anchored in Christ when someone else is acting out of pain.

Romans 12:18 reminds us that peace begins with us. “If it be possible… as much as lies within you…”

That means we are responsible for our posture, not their response. We are accountable for our obedience, not their behavior. But sometimes, if we are honest, we try to do more than love them.

We try to change them.

We analyze them. We correct them. We overexplain ourselves.
We carry the emotional weight of trying to fix what only God can transform.

And that can become taxing. It can become stressful. It can drain our joy and exhaust our spirit.  We must recognize our limitations. We are called to love. We are not called to be the Holy Spirit.

Only God, through the working of His Spirit, can truly change a heart. Conviction is His job. Transformation is His power. Our role is obedience.

Ephesians 4:2 calls us to humility, gentleness, and patience. “Bearing with one another in love.” Bearing implies weight. It implies stretching. It implies surrender.

And 1 Peter 4:8 tells us to love deeply. Not conveniently. Deeply.
Deep love does not ignore wrong, but it refuses to let bitterness take root.

But let us pause for a moment.  Are we always easy to love?

Have we never had difficult days?
Never needed forgiveness?
Never hoped someone would be patient with us?

The same grace we desire is the grace we are called to extend.

Loving hard people is not a weakness. It is maturity.
It is spiritual strength under control.
It is saying, “Lord, shape my character more than I try to change theirs.”

Sometimes the greatest testimony is not in fixing someone,
but in trusting God with what we cannot fix.

 Prayer:  Father, help us to love without trying to control. Teach us to release the burden of changing others and to trust You with their hearts. Give us patience where we feel stretched and peace where we feel drained. Guard us from frustration and anchor us in Your grace. May we do our part and leave the transformation in Your hands. In Jesus’ name, Amen.