The Key to Loving Others Even When It's Hard - Your Nightly Prayer
The Key to Loving Others Even When It's Hard
Your Nightly Prayer for May 28, 2025
By Sophia Bricker
TONIGHT'S SCRIPTURE
"We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters." - 1 John 3:16, NLT
SOMETHING TO PONDER
In modern society, the word “love” has lost its impact. We claim we “love” everyday items like the phones we carry, a certain movie or album, or that we love our favorite food. When we think about the realm of relationships, there is also the tendency to treat love in a way that is removed from historical, biblical definitions. People assume love is a warm, fuzzy feeling that makes life a sparkly dream; that once a person has fallen in love, everything will be easy. Love, then, equals a problem-free life.
But true love, the one that endures, is not like that. There is a grittiness to love that requires work and dedication. We cannot expect to always love others based on mere feelings. Loving others is hard, and we will often face times when we will have to do the tough job of loving even when we don’t feel like it; sometimes even when it hurts. As author and theologian, C. S. Lewis wrote in his book The Four Loves, “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal.”
Our Savior modeled what this looks like in practice. He gave His life to save us, submitting Himself to the cross to die for us. As Christ told the disciples, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13, NLT). True love involves giving of oneself for the sake of others. It does so regardless of reciprocation or whether the other person “deserves” it or not. It involves sacrifice and the pain of rejection at times, just as Jesus endured the mocking and jeering from the very people He was dying for (Matthew 27:39-46).
Of course, this does not mean we submit to abusive relationships. That is not what Christ calls us to do. Instead, what Jesus shows us is that the task of loving in this world is not an easy one. We need only look at the cross to realize this truth. And in the shadow of where He hung, nailed to a tree for our sake, our surface-level ideas and sparkly notions about love dissolve.
Believers are tasked with the important job of loving others, but we are empowered to do so based on the love that has been graciously given to us. From that overflowing well, we can give to others freely and abundantly – even when it’s hard.
YOUR NIGHTLY PRAYER
Savior,
You showed us what it means to genuinely love others. There is no greater love than what You have shown in giving Yourself to save us. Help me to love others in this way, to be so overwhelmed by Your love, Jesus, that I can love my family, friends, coworkers, and even those I struggle to like with this same focus of self-giving and grace. May I learn from you and love even when it’s hard.
Amen.
THREE THINGS TO MEDITATE UPON
1. Jesus’ death on the cross. Is there a certain passage or aspect of His sacrificial death that you need to focus on to remind you of His love?
2. A person whom you have been struggling to love recently. What is one way you could show Christlike love to that person this week?
3. A well – God’s love is like a bottomless well that never runs out of water. How might this picture help to remind you to draw from His love when dealing with others in your life, including difficult people?
©GettyImages/Javier Art Photography
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