Do I Have to Love Everyone?
According to the Bible, a more excellent way to walk in the power of God is to pursue love. That’s the best way to develop a lifestyle of doing the works of Jesus. Walking in love is the best way for the world to see Jesus through us.
How do we grow and develop in love? You grow and develop in love the same way you grow and develop in anything else. You practice it. You exercise it until you get stronger and stronger in it. Some people start out by trying to practice love on the meanest, ugliest person they know. That’s probably not the best way to do it.
The Bible does tell us to love our enemies and to love each other as Jesus loved us. If you start there, however, you’re likely to end up frustrated and defeated. Why is that? Because, according to the Bible, the divine cycle of love begins with God’s love for us and our love for Him, then it extends outward to other people. Once you start loving the Lord and receiving His love, you are going to love others. First John 5:1 says plainly, “Every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.” In other words, everyone who loves the Father also loves the children!
We practice our love on Him and we end up falling in love with everyone around us. As His love begins to flush the fear out of us, suddenly we can drop the barriers that have separated us from other people. We can forget about our own preservation and protection and lose ourselves in helping meet the needs of those around us. As we grow up in love, we will walk in the fullness of the measure of the image of Christ.