The other day in the line at the grocery store, a kind woman let me cut in front of her. She had a full cart, and I just had a few items. Her loss, my gain. However, when I opened my purse to get my wallet, I noticed it was missing. (Click here to listen to this message.)

I recalled that earlier in the day I made an online purchase and left my wallet on my desk. I alerted the clerk and told her I’d have to put everything back. I apologized for the extra work my absentmindedness created and headed home.

The woman who extended the kindness to me by letting me cut the line was now able to check out quicker than she’d expected. My loss was her gain.

We never know the impact we can have on another life, do we? That woman likely thought she was giving up something, but turns out, she didn’t give up a thing.

The Bible tells us over and over to walk in love. What does that look like? My grocery store experience is a great example. However, there are a k-billion more. And if we ever run out of ideas, just look at how Jesus acted when He walked the earth. What did He do?

• He took time to listen to people, really listen
• He shared meals with people who were looked down upon
• He stood up for the marginalized
• He fed people who had no food

I could go on and on but I’m sure you get the point.

Now here’s the tricky part. It’s easy to be kind to kind people. Yet what about the people who are not so kind? Maybe even people we do not care for. Yikes! Do the same rules apply?

Yep.

The Bible tells us that we are to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who spitefully use us and persecute us (Matthew 5:44).

Whaat?? Jesus had to have been joking, right?

Nope.

While Jesus did have a great sense of humor, this was not one of those times.

How do we do this? How do we bless and help people who are mean to us, who hurt us, who make our lives miserable?

We start by acknowledging that we can’t do it on our own and ask God to help us. He knows it’s challenging but He never tells us to do something that He doesn’t enable us to do.

Next, we ask God to bless them. I know. I know. But consider this. If they are being blessed, two things may  happen. Their hearts will be softened because they will experience the favor of God and secondly, their unkindness may fade and they’ll become people who we actually want to hang out with.

Will it happen overnight? I don’t know, maybe. But if we are persistent in our prayers for them, it will happen. In the meantime, our own hearts will become softened, and we will be free of the bitterness, resentment, and unforgiveness.

When we walk in love as Jesus did, we have everything to gain and nothing to lose.