Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People

by Bob Goff

Jesus never had a problem with people who knew their shortcomings; He didn’t tolerate people who faked it. Once we get real with where we actually are and our desperate need for Him, He’s got a person He can do something with.

Our church is made of people like you and me whom Jesus didn’t pass over just because we messed up. He didn’t give us a membership; He gave us a message.

We’re the bride of Christ, not because of what we look like but because of who we are trying to act like. That’s our church.

What I’ve found, though, is when we’re looking for a plan, God often sends us a person.

Many of us think of our big mistakes as disqualifying us; God sees them as preparing us.

Someone once asked me what I would write if I only had six words for my autobiography. Here’s what I came up with: What if we weren’t afraid anymore? Throughout history, God has spoken three words more often than any others when the people He loved were scared and confused, lost or lonely, paralyzed or stuck. In those times, He usually didn’t make a big speech. He just said to His people, Be. Not. Afraid.

Paul was one of the people who talked about Jesus. He explained grace in this way: He said neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither present nor future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation could ever separate us from the love of God.

This is the story Jesus came to tell in your life, my life, and Kabi’s life. He said He would turn us into love if we were willing to leave behind who we used to be.

Here’s what I learned: when you’ve got a guide you can trust, you don’t have to worry about the path you’re on. It’s the same lesson I’ve been learning about Jesus. I’m just trying to follow love’s lead.

It’s hard to walk with Jesus and run ahead of Him at the same time. Yet I’ve been doing that my whole life. I’ve misunderstood going slow as lacking enthusiasm and going fast as joy. I’ve confused patience as a lack of will and activity as purpose.

People who are becoming love celebrate how far the people around them have come. They’re constantly asking the question, “Where do you want to go?” Then they help the people around them get there.

Here’s the thing: loving people the way Jesus did either changes everything in us or it changes nothing.

Loving your enemies doesn’t just mean learning about them or being nice to them or tolerating them. It means helping them.

The people who creep us out aren’t obstacles to having faith; they’re opportunities to understand it.

There is no love without justice, but there is no justice without love. I don’t think we have any business telling people what to change in their lives unless we’re willing to change a couple of things in ours. For me, this means taking a step back from my pride, washing feet, and treating my enemies with the kind of selfless love Jesus didn’t just talk about but demonstrated.

Don’t just love the people who are easy to love; go love the difficult ones. If you do this, Jesus said you’d move forward on your journey toward being more like Him. Equally important, as you practice loving everybody, always, what will happen along the way is you’ll no longer be who you used to be. God will turn you into love.

One thing has remained the same. Every time I wonder who I should love and for how long I should love them, God continues to whisper to me: Everybody, always.