s20090322m_How to Love You for a Life Time
How I can love imperfect humans
What God Expects Of My Human Relationships
17A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17
24… a friend … sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24b
Why I May Feel People are Imperfect
They are 1.) Failing to meet my expectations. 2.) Hurting me emotionally, 3.) Causing me problems,
4.) Unwilling to apologize, 5) Uncaring for my needs, 6) Rude & angry in your words.
i can love imperfect humans if…
I [Love God First]
16But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” Ruth 1:16-17
I view them As [God does]!
20“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. 21I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” Ruth 1:20-21
I respond with [kindness] to them!
11Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” Ruth 2:11-12
I Acknowledge [the Good] they do!
13“May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have given me comfort and have spoken kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servant girls.” Ruth 2:13
I do not [Quit] on them!
23So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law. Ruth 2:23