Sometimes I feel God is asking me to befriend someone I naturally dislike or who annoys me. How can I overcome my natural inclination to avoid that friendship?

Sometimes I feel God is asking me to befriend someone I naturally dislike or who annoys me. How can I overcome my natural inclination to avoid that friendship?
Follow the example of Jesus.
1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1 | posted 1/30/2009

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He drops by your home several times a week and wants you to drop everything so you can chat; he's stuck like glue to your side at every church function; he phones you ever day at work with a question or concern; he's always down in the dumps. You feel smothered, and no wonder. You feel like disconnecting your phone and moving to a desert island—or strangling him. But that wouldn't be very Christian, would it?

In these verses, Paul says that no matter what you do (whether it's eating or drinking, as the previous verses talk about, or befriending someone) you should "do all to the glory of God" (10:31). In situations of friendship (or anything else for that matter), honoring God with your actions is sometimes tough. The last thing you want to do is smile (and mean it) and take some of your precious time with someone who drives you crazy.

Then Paul hits you with a zinger, the second reason for befriending someone you naturally dislike: "I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many; that they may be saved" (10:33). That puts annoying, frustrating people in an eternal perspective, doesn't it?

Will you, like Paul, 'imitate Christ"? (See also Ezekiel 2:1-7; Zechariah 4:1-10; Mark 2:13-17.)

Good Words to Remember:

Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1

Today's Challenge:

How do you treat frustrating people?

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