Browsing Tag

love

How to Deal With Mean People – Part 3

Posted on October 30, 2013

Mean people can make life really tough. Its especially hard when you’re at school dealing with them day everyday. When I was in middle school, I had to ride the bus to school everyday. Every morning there was a girl who rode the bus that was super mean. She picked on everybody. She’d make mean comments about almost everything somedays it felt like she was out to get everyone. There were days where I couldn’t wait for the bus ride to end so that I could get away from her and get some peace.

Lots of times when we’re dealing with mean people it can be hard to know what to do. You might think the right thing to do would be to do something mean back to them to teach them a lesson.

The Bible has lots to say on the subject of mean people. One powerful verse that deals with meanies is found in Matthew 5:43-44

[quote align=”center” color=”#999999″]”You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer…” (Message)[/quote]
We might feel like the right thing to do is to get even or teach a mean person a lesson. However, the Bible says that we are to treat mean people better than that. It tells us we are to respond to a mean person by praying for them. This can be really hard. Its easier to want to give up on a mean person and avoid them or to hatch a plan to get back at them. The Bible states that we are to do the complete opposite. We are to respond by praying for them. We are to respond by doing all we can to help them.

This isn’t an easy thing to do, but begin praying for those who are mean to others. Start to ask God for ways to share His love with them. God may use you  to lead them to Christ. Be open to being used by God and pray for those who are mean to you.

Similar Devotions for Teens

Can I really love my enemies?

Posted on October 9, 2013

People can be mean.  I think back to when I used to ride the bus to school every day. I remember one girl that would just pick on about everyone. She was an older student and she sure was mean.  She used to pick on this one girl by pulling on her hair and calling her “shrimp”.  It got so bad that she even made this other girl cry.  There are some people like this girl that are just plain mean.  So the question is with all the mean people that we meet at school, at the mall, or even on the bus, is it really possible to love those who are mean to us?

I think the answer is “yes”.  The Bible says in Matthew 5:44 – “But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you.”   How do we do that? How do we muster up love for people who are mean and don’t treat others with respect? The Bible says in Romans 5:5 that the love of God has been placed into our hearts (NIV). So yes, God tells us to love our enemies which can seem hard, but he gives us the love to do it with.

So, that bully you ride the bus with everyday, or the person that books you in the hall, the people in your life that seem to be too hard to love, you can love them. Why? Because you don’t have to love them with your own love. You love them with the love that God has placed into your heart. So remember that when loving mean people gets hard, you’re not doing it alone. The love of God has been placed in your heart. You’ve got all the love you need to love your enemies.

Pray: God, thank you for placing your love in my heart. I thank you that with that love I can love those who are mean and unloveable. I ask you to help me to love others and know that with your help I can love my enemies.

Listen: Love, Love, Love by sidewalk prophets

How to Deal With Mean People – Part 2

Posted on July 11, 2013

Teen Deovtion - Mean People Bullies

God tells us in Matthew 5:44 – “Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” (NLT)

Loving people that are mean or don’t treat you the way you think you should be treated can be really hard at times.

We learned in the last devotion that we can love others because God put the love to do it with in our hearts. But what does loving a mean person look like in everyday life?

  • Be kind – this means that no matter how cruel someone is you respond back to them with kind words and actions. You don’t try to get revenge or get even.
  • Put yourself in the other person’s shoes – it’s easy to get mad and get hurt when you feel like you’ve been treated unfairly. However, try putting yourself in that person’s shoes. If you had been through the things that they had been through you might act the same way they did.
  • Realize that you hurt people too. Have you ever said something mean and later regretted it? Or maybe you weren’t even trying to be mean but what you said came across in the wrong way. How would you want to be treated in those situations? You’d probably want understanding and forgiveness so extend that to others.

Loving mean people can be a real challenge. It can be hard to do the right thing. Just remember that loving mean people is something you can grow in and develop more. Don’t feel bad if you’re not perfect at it.

Also, realize that God is there to give you ideas and help on how to love mean people. Keep him in the loop and you’ll find that God has your back when it comes to dealing with mean people.

 

What do I do? My crush doesn’t like me back!

Posted on February 13, 2013

Youth Devotion Crush
In high school I always fell into the trap of liking someone that didn’t like me back. After several years of tormenting myself with crush after crush that didn’t like me back, I realized there had to be a better way. I’m going to share with you some things that I learned on how to handle crushes not liking me back.

  1. Not every person is going to like you – This really freed me up a lot to enjoy life much more.  I began to realize that not every person I met was going to want to date me. Once I realized this, it took a lot of the pressure off to just enjoy life and not care so much if someone liked me.
  2. Turn around, there is probably someone behind you that does like you – Many times its easy to focus so much on the crush that doesn’t like us, that we don’t realize there is a person right beside or behind us at church or at school that does like us. We miss them many times because we are more focused on trying to get our crush to like us that we miss out on other good opportunities around us.
  3. Take a close look at yourself – If you’re noticing that you’re consistently not getting people to take interest in you, examine yourself. Perhaps you’re doing something that is keeping other people from being interested in you. Check up to see if there is something you can work on to become more attractive to others.
  4. Don’t sweat it – Many times you may not find Mr. or Mrs. Right in your school. Many people meet their significant other in college or after high school. If for some reason you’re not finding someone you click with, you’ve got plenty of time after school to find that special someone.

It can be hard when your crush doesn’t like you back to not get sad and think there is something wrong with you. I encourage you to keep trusting God and relying on Him to be the source of your happiness. Even if your crush never likes you back, you can take comfort knowing that God thinks you’re great!

Pray: God, I thank you that you love me no matter what. Even when my crush doesn’t, you do. I choose to make my happiness be in you, not in what others think of me. Thank you for loving me just the way I am! Amen.

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