Dealing with a difficult person is, well, really difficult. Maybe it’s a spouse who nags and snipes. An aggressive coworker. An in-law who makes you feel like you never quite measure up. A defiant child. When you’re near that person, your stomach hurts; your blood pressure rises. You can’t imagine how Jesus expects you to love that person when there is no love in return.

But honestly? We’ve all been that difficult person. We excuse our own venom, saying someone bit us first. We avoid the messy effort of fixing a broken relationship and call it “tolerance.” We withhold the seeds of love because they will only fall on hard ground.

How . . . why . . . does Jesus expect us to love the unlovable? Because he did it first—he loved us to death! He covered our sins. He connects us to God’s power and glorious might. He gives us great endurance and patience, not a half-hearted measure that says, “This far I will go, but no farther.”

Today, before you encounter that difficult person, ask God to “fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience” (Colossians 1:9-11).

Then, in that strength, go sow God’s love.