JESUS WAS NOT NICE

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. John 13:34 (NLT)

As Christians, we are to love like Jesus loved. But we need to realize something very important. Loving is not the same thing as people-pleasing.  

Jesus most definitely loved people, but He was not a doormat. He did the will of His Father, who is love, but He wasn’t a “nice Christian” in the way we tend to understand it. He flipped over tables in a synagogue in anger (John 2:15). He confronted religious leaders, even calling them names that were definitely not nice (John 8:44). He was real with His friends and let them know when they were out of line (Matthew 16:23).  

Was Jesus motivated by love in everything He did? You bet He was. But His love is strong and sometimes confrontational. “Nice” is people-pleasing. It dances around the issues. We need to love Jesus’ way.  

None of us love perfectly. We get manipulative and sometimes put conditions on our affection, so we have to catch ourselves. Since all of us are dealing with this issue, we need to put up boundaries and enforce them in our relationships. Through it all, the most important thing to remember is to get your deepest love-needs met by your Father God so you don’t rely on people-pleasing to meet them.  

You have God’s love and it makes you strong. You don’t need to keep everyone happy, just be motivated to please God. This week, make this claim until you believe it: “I’m rooted firmly in God’s love for me. He’s empowering me to rise up and be free—to live, laugh, enjoy and be a great example of someone who loves unconditionally.”