You may be thinking, “How can I love as this passage requires? How am I to do it? It is not like I have not tried. I do. But I fail. How am I to love this way?”
We can love this way because we have an example. Jesus loved this way. He gave up the comfort, joy, and adoration of heaven to be with broken people and become dirtied by the soil of earth and the sin of humanity. He bore the agony of unjust pain as He faced Calvary and continued to give Himself for others. And He did this for love of you and me.
When we see His example, we are encouraged to bear the pain that broken people inflict upon us when we reach out to them. When their remarks stab us, when their rejection is cruel, when our love-actions earn us only scorn and hurt, we see Jesus. With Him as our example, we are encouraged to continue to love and to keep on giving love, even in the face of pain.
If He did this for us, can we not do it for others?
