Have you ever looked out into a crowded room and thought I have no friends? Or sat at home alone wondering if anyone cares about you? This is a trap that many teenagers fall into, seeking for a friendship that will fill a whole that only Jesus can.
We live in a society that is shouting self love, self care, self, self, self. And yes, it is good and ok to love yourself, in fact its very important. But if we are only focused on ourselves, we fall into a trap of loneliness. Another huge boom in culture right now is cutting people out of your life that have hurt you, or that you don't agree with anymore. This is not what Jesus would teach.
There are many examples of unconditional love in the bible, but the two most bold in my mind are Thomas, and Peter. These two disciples where with Jesus a lot, then when Jesus has to bare OUR sins on the cross, Thomas and Peter act as if Jesus was never a part of there life. Thomas told the other disciples that he refuses to believe Jesus had come back to life. Peter publicly denied Jesus three different times. Even after all of this, Jesus choose to show those two disciples tremendous love, forgiveness. and in fact DID NOT cut them out of his life.
John 21:1-2
21 After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself.
2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons
of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.
These two disciples where some of the first people Jesus encountered. It would have been so easy for Jesus to cut people out of his life. But Jesus did not.
It is very important to understand that sometimes people hurt us and we want to completely cut them out. Instead of doing this, we should show them tremendous love. If the person in this relationship continues to hurt us, we need to address this problem with a loving mindset, and explain our feelings. If the person on the other side of does not accept your feelings and brushes it off, then we STILL need to show love. But set boundaries within ourselves. If they are constantly hurting you, you need to SHOW LOVE but distant yourself from the thing (whether its a object, subject of person) setting boundaries.
The moral of the story is God=Jesus=Love. And if we are called to be like Jesus we must show tremendous love, no matter what the circumstances. Jesus would want us to love.
keep loving others,
XOXO Jenna Helen
*For more on this topic listen to Episode 141 Home for the Holidays (and I'm not looking foward to it!) Becoming something Jonathan Pokluda
This podcast is geared towards Christmas time, but has a great explanation on how to treat others*