Praying for Mean People

If we treat someone as they deserve to be treated, we all lose.Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.  Luke 6:28Recently, two of my own have struggled with these hard words from Jesus. An ugly word kept popping up as they wrestled with anger and frustration toward those who, in their opinion, had wronged them.  Deserve"Mom, he doesn't deserve my respect. He's mean."Deserve is an ugly word because it puts the measuring cup in our hands; we take on the role of judge. We want justice, we want fairness, we want to be right. The problem is that we really don't want those things at all. Not if the situation is reversed. Do we want justice when we are being the jerk? Do we want fairness when we fall flat on our faces, when we lose our cool? We are all undeserving.God asks us to pray for those who hurt us. We too have been hurtful and in need of prayer. He asks us to turn the other cheek because we have all been the one to pull the first punch at some point. We are all in need of forgiveness and grace, so deserve really is an ugly word. Jesus already took the punishment you and I deserved.Our Lord is pretty clear about who we should love. He never gave us a qualifier for who should receive our kindness and respect. For God so loved the world- the whole undeserving world.It's amazing what can happen when we choose to give grace and forgiveness, kindness and respect, help and assistance to those who don't deserve it.  Who has hurt you? Could you pray for them today?