{"id":111,"date":"2016-12-09T11:31:25","date_gmt":"2016-12-09T11:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/?p=111"},"modified":"2016-12-09T11:31:25","modified_gmt":"2016-12-09T11:31:25","slug":"difficult-person-god-called-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/2016\/12\/difficult-person-god-called-love.html","title":{"rendered":"What Difficult Person Has God Called You to Love?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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2\u00a0<\/span>When the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0began to speak through Hosea, the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0said to him, \u201cGo, marry a promiscuous\u00a0woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness\u00a0to the\u00a0Lord<\/span>.\u201d<\/span>\u00a03\u00a0<\/span>So he married Gomer\u00a0daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. . . \u00a01<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>The\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0said to me, \u201cGo, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress.\u00a0Love her as the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/em>2\u00a0<\/span>So I bought her for fifteen shekels\u00a0of silver and about a homer and a lethek\u00a0of barley.<\/em> Hosea 1:2-3, 3:1-2<\/span><\/p>\n

When you read the story of Hosea, it’s easy to be astounded at what he was asked to do: marry a prostitute, and then once she wandered off and returned to her life of sin, go and continue to love her. This extreme living example of grace was a picture of God’s love towards a promiscuous Israel. God commanded Hosea to go and show love\u00a0to a person he had every right to walk away from.<\/p>\n

Who is God asking you to show love to today? What difficult person is in your life, whether at work, at church or in your family? Who has hurt you, betrayed you, taken advantage of you? Who are you secretly holding a grudge against until they come begging for forgiveness? Like Hosea, is God asking you to love a difficult person, a person you have every right to give up on or hate, to showcase a living example of God’s grace to the world?<\/p>\n

Ask the Holy Spirit if there is a difficult person in your life that you need to show love to today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2\u00a0When the\u00a0Lord\u00a0began to speak through Hosea, the\u00a0Lord\u00a0said to him, \u201cGo, marry a promiscuous\u00a0woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness\u00a0to the\u00a0Lord.\u201d\u00a03\u00a0So he married Gomer\u00a0daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. . . \u00a01\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0said to me, \u201cGo, show your love to your wife…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[59,62,58,61,60],"class_list":["post-111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-next-steps","tag-difficult","tag-grace","tag-hosea","tag-love","tag-person"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Difficult Person Has God Called You to Love? - Next Steps<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hosea was commanded by God to go and love a wife who had betrayed him. 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