Some may question the concept of loving someone you resent. Isn’t that being hypocritical? You have negative feelings, but you are doing or saying something positive. When I hear that question, I am reminded of what the British scholar C. S. Lewis said:

Your Feelings Aren’t Always Right
Love is sometimes the choice to go against your feelings. It’s similar to what I do every morning when I get up. I don’t know about you, but if I only got out of bed on the mornings I felt like getting out of bed, I’d pretty much never get up. Almost every morning, including this morning, I go against my feelings, get up, do something I think to be good, and before the day is over, I feel good about having done it. Love is not a feeling; it is a way of behaving. Feelings follow behavior; therefore, loving feelings follow loving behavior. Loving actions on my part not only bring me positive feelings about myself, but, if spoken in the love language of the other person, they will stimulate positive feelings inside them.

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Most of us don’t have a problem loving people who love us back. That is why the challenge Jesus gave His followers seems so unattainable: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

It is interesting that Jesus gave God as our model when He said, “Your Father in heaven...causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Perhaps you are thinking, That’s fine for God but I’m not God. I cannot love the people who have mistreated me in life. Apart from God’s help, that is true. But the Scriptures say, “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” Love is the central message of the Christian church. “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Imagine what would happen if the single adults who call themselves Christians truly acted this way. Everyone desperately needs love. And those who give love are those who truly succeed.

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