When Love Became an Act of Obedience

I recall a time when I knew the Holy Spirit was prompting me to send a text I didn’t want to send. It was to someone who had hurt me deeply, and I didn’t feel they deserved my kindness. I wrestled within myself, listing every reason not to reach out.

But I knew what God was asking of me.

The old me would have listened to the pain I felt and ignored His soft voice. “God, they have hurt me so many times—why should I be kind to them? They would never do this for me. They continue to disappoint me.”

But I chose to obey His voice and sent the message.

The moment I hit send, His overwhelming peace flooded my spirit. “This is what it means to be broken and spilled out,” He spoke so gently to me. And His love
filled my heart until all I could do was weep. I often question whether I’ve truly heard from God, but in this moment, there was no doubt—I knew He had spoken.

Judas betrayed Jesus. Peter denied Him. The others fled in His greatest hour of need. They didn’t ask for forgiveness, and yet He freely gave it. I cannot fathom that kind of love. And yet, even sending a simple kind message felt like too much for me.

But I felt His love—and I knew that, with His help, I could extend grace to someone who needed it.

The Bait of Satan

We all encounter difficult people, and our natural response is often to become defensive or withdraw.

One of the enemy’s most effective traps is offense. It pulls us into bitterness and keeps us focused on our wounds instead of God’s purpose.

John Bevere writes:

Offense is the tool the enemy uses to get us out of the will of God. We guard our rights and personal relationships carefully. Our energy is consumed with making sure no future injuries will occur. Love does not seek its own, but hurt people become more self-seeking, taking in life but, because of fear, cannot release life. ¹

When God’s plan for my life requires me to confront my own hurt and attitudes, I am learning not to run—but to allow Him to bring healing and restoration through the Holy Spirit. ²

If the enemy can keep us consumed with small offenses, he successfully blinds us to the greater mission of modeling Christ’s grace.

Less of Me

One of the most piercing questions I’ve ever been asked was: Do you think you are better than Jesus? I was stunned, but the truth of it struck deeply. If the only perfect and righteous person to ever walk the earth was met with rejection, suffering, and death—why should I expect a life free of discomfort?

That realization exposed something in me: pride. Who was I to expect a path free of rejection? Confronting that mindset required repentance, and it became a pivotal moment in my spiritual journey. Since then, whenever something causes me hurt, I take it immediately to Jesus in prayer.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs.” – 1 Corinthians 13:4–5

Jesus Fills Us with His Power

In my experience as a mental health coach, I’ve seen how overwhelming forgiveness can feel—especially when wounds are deep and scars remain.
Forgiveness is not simple, and it is not an invitation to place yourself back into harm’s way. You can release the weight of the past while still maintaining the boundaries that keep you safe.

I am deeply inspired by the story of Corrie ten Boom, Holocaust survivor and faithful servant of God. Many years after being released from a concentration camp, she found herself face-to-face with one of her former captors after speaking on forgiveness. He was standing at the back of the church.

She later wrote:

"Lord Jesus," I prayed, "forgive me and help me to forgive him. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness." And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives along with the command, the love itself.³

Her forgiveness was not a product of her own strength, but of obedience. And in that moment, she reached out and shook his hand.

Reflection

As you reflect on your own life, consider these questions:

• Who is it that you need to forgive?
• Have you been relying on your own strength or God’s?
• Are you praying for those who have hurt you?

There is a profound beauty that emerges when we choose to love like Christ while still carrying our scars. It is in those places of surrender that we reflect His heart most clearly. This is what it looks like to love like Jesus.

1. John Bevere, The Bait of Satan: Living Free from the Deadly Trap of Offense (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2014), 16.
2. Ibid., 73.
3. Corrie ten Boom with John and Elizabeth Sherrill, The Hiding Place (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1971), 247-48.