His Unfailing Love And His Wonderful Deeds For Men...

Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy. (Psalm 107:21) 

            For the past few days, I've been posting a quite "What three things are you thankful for today?" bit on Face Book. Today seems like a perfect time to expand on one of the things I'm trying to be thankful for: disagreeable people. There are people who were my friends for many years, but because I was disagreeable, or they were disagreeable, those friendships have ended. There are people with whom those disagreeable friendships have continued. There are still others who aren't my friends, but just people I encounter somewhere, who just can't seem to see things from my perspective. It's hard to remember that those people are treasures, especially when I'm in the middle of the disagreement. 

            I have a list of people I pray for. One of the categories in that list is "my enemies." I pray for those friends who have unfriended me either on social media or more generally. I pray for my friends who seem to hate me or even just generally seem to hate. I pray for those whose philosophical views are (from my perspective) dangerous, harmful and oppressive, those who hatred leads then to violence I also pray for terrorists and rioters and two women on death row in Pennsylvania, even though the crimes they committed were horrific. I don't pray that lightning would strike them. I don't pray that they would "see the light" or that their perspective would change. For the most violent, I do pray that they would be converted, captured or killed before they harm others, with the list in order of preference. I pray for salvation for those I suspect aren't saved. Mostly, I pray that God would bless  each of these people with love, or joy, or peace, or patience, or kindness, or goodness, or faithfulness, or gentleness or self-control. That is how I pray for everyone on my prayer list, by working my way through the fruit of the Spirit. Whatever blessing happens to be next when I pray through my  list.

            Sometimes, it's not easy to ask that God bless the person who would gladly kill me, or the person who has said that I am never to speak to him/her again with the same blessing that I request for those with whom I'm on speaking terms. At the very least, I want to choose which fruit of the Spirit I think would do them good or teach them the lesson I think they need to be taught. I generally resist the temptation to select. 

           Jesus commanded us to love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us. By doing so, our character goes stronger. We become better people when we love when it isn't easy. Those disagreeable people in your life? They're there to build you up even when they're tearing you down. To all of you with whom I have disagreed. Thank you for being God's tool to make me a better person. I thank God, also, for you, and for His wisdom in developing my strength of character