This letter is from Paul,... and from our brother Timothy. We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colossae, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. ...For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News. Colossians 1: 1-4 NLT

Have you ever heard a preacher use the moniker “sandpaper person” referring to someone who really gets on your nerves? If you have, then I’ll bet there was a face that automatically popped into your mind. You see it right now, don’t you? Don’t feel badly.  I’ve got a few of those, too. I think we all do. The difficulty is that the “sandpaper person” is often someone at church, someone we know that we are supposed to love. So, what do we do about it?

Jesus emphasized love as the highest and greatest commandment. Jesus said that love for each other would be proof that we are His. So, why is it so hard for Christians to love each other? Why aren’t we as different from the rest of the world as we should be? 

The Apostle Paul encouraged the believers at Colossae to start the task of loving others by loving the people of God (Colossians 1:3). Of course, that's not exclusive. Loving God's people does not exclude loving those who are not yet believers. Honestly, if God created every person in His image (Genesis 1:26-7), aren't all people technically God's people?

Yet, loving God's people, those who declare themselves to be followers of Christ, can sometimes be more difficult than loving an unbeliever. Just as it can be easier to be more patient with someone you don't know than with a family member. Why is it difficult and what can you and I do to be found faithful people who demonstrate our faith in Christ by love for God’s people? 

Loving God’s people is hard because we expect more from them and are often disappointed.  We have higher expectations for those closest to us and higher expectations for those who call themselves Christ-followers, don't we? We expect believers to be more patient and caring, less selfish and more serving. But the truth is our Christian brothers and sisters let us down...often. Our disappointment can lead us to become guarded and self-protective. 

Faithful followers of Jesus continue to love those who disappoint them. They forgive quickly and remain open to those around them. They allow the Spirit of Jesus to transform them into reflections of Jesus who laid down His life, literally and figuratively, for others. 

Loving God’s people is hard because we don’t have enough faith in Christ to give Him room to work in our brothers and sisters.  If you and I are really honest with ourselves we will have to admit that what we may submit as “prayer requests” for other believers are often our own desires to control them. We have to ask ourselves if your requests are truly motivated by love for that person or are they simply our expression of annoyance and our demand that God fix them. Since they won’t listen to us or do what we say, we commission God to do our dirty work for us through a “prayer request.”

One of the most difficult ways to love a fellow believer, or an unbeliever we love, is to release them into God’s hands and continue to treat them with respect when we totally disagree with them and their choices. 

Now, love and respect are different from trust. I can treat someone with love and respect without letting them in and trusting them with my full heart. Not every believer can be trusted with an intimate knowledge of my heart. Yet, I can still love them and honor them while leaving the fixing to God. That is tough! Only the Holy Spirit can help me love that way! Only the Holy Spirit can produce that kind of faith in me. The kind of faith that loves a brother and truly trusts Christ to do the work in him. 

Love for others is the proof of a life transformed by Christ.  Love for God’s people is evidence of a life transformed by Christ. That is the bottom line. The outflow of the Holy Spirit, His fruit, the evidence of His work in our lives is love. At the core of the Christian life is love. But that kind of love is supernatural. I just don’t have it in me to love people that way. No one does. The only way to truly love sandpaper people is through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

My Friend, I wish that I could say that love will just flow out of you since you are a follower of Christ. I wish that kind of love would just flow out of me! But it doesn’t. It is a lifelong journey, a life of transformation. A life that is surrendered to the work of the Holy Spirit to smooth out my rough edges… and He will use sandpaper people to do it. 

Key Thought: Love for others is evidence of a life transformed by Christ. 

A Scripture to Consider: This letter is from Paul,... and from our brother Timothy. We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colossae, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. ...For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News. Colossians 1: 1-4 NLT

A YES Challenge: Whom do you find difficult to love? Ask the Holy Spirit to produce the fruit of love in you. Take time to release that person into God’s hands and trust Him to do the work in them. Let the Holy Spirit transform you and trust Him to work in them.  

Prayer: Lord, loving others is one of the most difficult things You ask me to do. I know that I don’t have the ability on my own. I need the transforming work of the Holy Spirit inside me. I need You to change me. Help me to release others into Your hands. Give me faith to trust You to do Your work in them. Amen.