So Stinkin' Hard

3 John 5 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you.

This is the true test of our depth of love for Jesus, how we treat strangers. Our job is to love others. I have been thinking about this often as of late. We get so caught up in keeping others in check and/or reaching a particular standard for ourselves that we forget what Jesus asked us to do. He simply said to love each other. It wasn't about keeping rules or following a certain morality code. Actually, I think if He would have just given us a list of dos and don'ts, that would have been easier. So, why is it so stinkin' hard to do what He said? Why is it so hard to love people? Satan likes to get his little finger in there and work it around a bit. He likes it when we point out the faults of others or strain ourselves so hard to make ourselves "good" because then we lose sight of Jesus. We completely leave Jesus out of our lives when we do these things because our focus becomes the worldly attributes in ourselves and in others. When we love people, we have to see them with Heavenly eyes. We have to look on them with eternity in mind. That's why it's so hard. We fall prey to being of the world, rather than recognizing that this is temporary. Our eyes are to be fixed on Heaven, the eternal. As Paul said, "I fix my eyes on the prize for that which God has called me heavenward." That's how you love people, whether strangers, friends, or foes.