Do You Treat People Better Than They Deserve?

“But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” (Romans 5:8 NLT)

Just to be clear, even after we’re born again, we still have the capacity to sin, thus, in that sense, we’re still sinners. What Paul addresses in the verse above is that the sinless, blameless, perfect Son of God died for us when we didn’t even have the option to decide whether we would follow Him. He was willing to do for us what we would never in eternity have ever had the option of doing for ourselves.

In short, He died for us when we were at our absolute worst. And I can “hear” some of you thinking: “Duh, we weren’t even born yet!” And yes, that’s true, but the Lord knew us before the world was spoken into existence. He has all knowledge, so He knew even before we were born, who would put their faith and trust in Him and who wouldn’t, who would need a Savior and who would discard their option to know Him.

The point Paul makes is still valid and applies to each of us. Think about it, if you know Jesus it’s only because of His foresight in making a way for you when you had no knowledge that you even needed a way to God, thus, a life devoted to sin and shame; being driven by the only thing you knew, your sinful, carnal nature.

That’s the same “boat” each person is still in without Jesus – lost, undone, filled with regret and unable to do anything about it until someone shares the Good News of a Savior who has made a way for them. How is the proverbial “stage” set for that to happen? How did it happen for you, if you are walking with Jesus? I obviously can’t speak for you, but for me someone began to treat me in a way I didn’t deserve to be treated.

They were kind, caring, respectful, pleasant, and enjoyable to be around. Before I learned to love Jesus, I learned to love them. I didn’t understand it then, but I have come to understand that my affection for them grew out of the fact Jesus resided in them in the Person of His Holy Spirit. My sense is, under most circumstances, before anyone will come to Christ, they have to be open to coming to one or more of His children.

If someone is trying to force something on me, whether it’s something material that I might really need – a new house, car, washer/dryer or whatever, I’m not going to buy from them. Having been in sales for much of my adult life, I was trained to understand in order for me to sell whatever product I represented, I had to first “sell” myself. Personally, and I don’t think I’m alone, I won’t buy something from someone I don’t like. My boss when I worked for AFLAC, had a test that any prospective recruit had to pass. It was the “DIL” test – “Do I Like.” If he didn’t like them, he wouldn’t hire them no matter how qualified they were.

We may not understand it intellectually, but emotionally we respond to people who are genuine, real, authentic, believable. We “buy” a person before we “buy” what they’re “selling,” even Jesus. That’s why it’s so critical we treat people, not how they deserve to be treated, but how we’d want to be treated if we were in their shoes, because the reality is, we were.

If the Lord Jesus isn’t “visible” in us, we’ll likely be wasting our time trying to help another person want Him to come into their life. When you think about it, isn’t that exactly what grace does, prepares them to receive our message through the ministry of the Holy Spirit?

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊