As we head into the holidays, these reminders become even more important. We walk into homes filled with all kinds of personalities, beliefs, and backgrounds. Some people know Jesus and some definitely don’t. So the question becomes, how should the world view the body of Christ?
When I look around at our church, I see so much diversity in talents, backgrounds, experiences, and personality types. Yet Jesus brings us together and molds us into one body. In John 13:34–35 (NKJV), he says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you… By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
That’s not a suggestion. It is a command. Our differences don’t excuse us from loving each other. In fact, those differences are what make our love so noticeable. I didn’t even grow up in Oklahoma. I didn’t know what okra was when I got here, and I still haven’t joined the biscuits and gravy fan club. But despite small cultural differences, God still commands us to love each other.
Love is a matter of the will. If someone rubs you the wrong way, love requires you to adjust your will and walk in love anyway. And trust me, I’m aware that I’m not everyone’s cup of tea either.
God knew there would be moments we wouldn’t feel like loving someone. We might even think we’re justified in withholding love. But biblical love cannot happen by accident. It is intentional and supernatural, especially in a world where the motto is, “Agree with me or be labeled hateful.”
1 Peter 4:8 (NKJV) says, “Above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins.” The Amplified explains this as forgiving and disregarding offenses. That is agape—God’s kind of love. The world uses the phrase “love is love,” but scripture separates romantic love, friendship love, family love, and agape. Agape is in a category of its own.
It’s the love that says, “I will look out for your best interest even if you hurt me.” It’s the love shown in the story The Cross and the Switchblade, when the preacher told a gang member who threatened him, “You can cut me into a thousand pieces, and every piece will still say I love you.”
Some claim that if you don’t support their ideology, you’re not walking in love. But correcting someone with truth is love. As a kid, I sometimes got disciplined when I needed it, and my dad hated doing it because of his gentle nature. But he corrected me because he loved me.
The truth of God will offend sin. When you speak truth in love, some people will get upset because it goes against the spirit influencing them. This is why 1 Corinthians 13:4–7 (NKJV) exists. It tells us what love looks like:
“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself… is not provoked, thinks no evil… bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Here’s where the message lands: love is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs.
Forgiveness means refusing to keep score. Jesus explained in Matthew 18:35 (NKJV) that the Father expects us to forgive from the heart. We can’t say, “I’ll forgive, but I won’t forget.” That is not agape.
Psalm 103:12 (NKJV) says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
God doesn’t bring up forgiven sins again. And when old feelings pop up, we respond the same way we respond in faith to salvation or healing. We say, “Father, I have forgiven them according to your Word, and I expect you to handle the rest.”
Sometimes people genuinely try to offend you. Just ask anyone who has ever opened the comment section on Facebook. But even then, scripture teaches us something important.
This is tough to swallow, but necessary. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us that love takes no offense. That means if someone offends you, the issue is not their behavior—it’s the fact that you stepped out of love.
And here’s why this truth matters. Romans 6:3–11 (NKJV) tells us that our old self was crucified with Christ. Verse 11 says, “Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
How can a dead person be offended?
The part of you that could be offended died on the cross with Jesus. Offense lives in the old nature—ego, pride, insecurity. When those areas surface, that’s the Holy Spirit showing you what needs healing.
Toddlers will tell you exactly what they think. They might say, “Your hair looks weird,” and you’re not offended because you know they’re just kids. Teenagers aren’t much different. I had a student who, every time I corrected her phone use, would retaliate with, “You have a receding hairline.”
It was completely unrelated and honestly a little funny. I knew she was just lashing out because she wasn’t used to correction.
Adults do the same thing, but they’re better at disguising it. Some people at work will intentionally push your buttons, especially if they learn you’re a Christian. They want to catch you slipping out of love so they can feel justified in not changing themselves.
But love says, “I’m unoffendable.” Love keeps showing up. Love keeps saying, “I love you,” even to the difficult ones.
We should be nearly impossible to offend unless something is genuinely evil or against God’s truth. Be offended at the lie that God puts sickness on people. Be offended at deception that leads people away from Christ. But don’t be offended at people.
People are the ones Jesus died for.
When Tim goes to minister to men overcoming addiction, many of them are rough, blunt, and sometimes hostile. But he’s not moved by it. His response is always, “I love you, man.” That’s agape. And that’s what God wants for us in the church and in the world.
Father, thank you for teaching me how to walk in your love. Help me behave in a way that reflects who you are so that when the world pushes against me, they recognize the truth in me. Make me one in love and one in purpose with my fellow believers, and help me become truly unoffendable. In Jesus’ name, amen.
