A truly challenging commandment

Jesus said, “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” (v. 11 NLT). What are these “things” that you must do to have His joy in life? Jesus tells us in the next verse: “This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.” You say, “That’s a truly challenging commandment!” Yes, and you’ll have to do a lot of growing and maturing in order to keep it. But to enjoy the life Jesus wants you to have, you must commit yourself to doing it! God created all kinds of people with different temperaments and personalities, so clearly He loves variety. When God made the first person, He said it was good. So not only are there varieties of people, but there’s “good” in everybody and you’re supposed to look for it. Much of our unhappiness in life is caused by people not being what we want them to be or doing what we want them to do. What’s the answer? How can you enjoy each day if you’re going to have to deal with annoying people? By making up your mind to love them. You don’t have to like their ways, but you have to love them in spite of their ways. When you think about it, that’s how God treats you, right? Here’s a key to loving annoying people: annoying people are usually annoyed about something in their life. When you treat the source of their pain, they’ll begin to feel better and treat you better.