Barbra Gentry-Pugh

Love Sees The Best

February 8, 2026

“ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35 (NASB)

”No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.” 1 John 4:12 (NASB)

“If anyone claims, ‘I am living in the light,’ but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness.” 1 John 2:9 (NLT)

”Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8 (NLT)

Let’s be honest, some people are simply hard to love. They test our patience, challenge our motives, and sometimes disrupt peace rather than promote it. Loving them doesn’t come naturally, and again, being honest, it often stretches us beyond what feels comfortable. Yet as Believers in Christ, we are not called to love based on convenience or emotion, but according to God’s definition of love.

The real question is not whether people are difficult, but how we respond when they are. Will we react in the flesh, or will we allow God’s love to shape our response?

I learned this lesson during my time as president of a women’s ministry. There was a season when one individual consistently caused disruption, stirred dissension, and shared distorted versions of our planning meetings. It required a lot of prayer, before our meetings and even in the middle of conversations. In that season, I learned to pray while I spoke, and God faithfully met me every time, giving wisdom, restraint, and peace. What could have become a source of bitterness instead became for me a place of growth, teaching me that love must be led by the Spirit, not my emotions.

That experience deepened my understanding of this truth: God’s love sees the best. Not because people are flawless, but because God’s love looks beyond flaws and works toward redemption. When we understand how God loves us, it changes how we see and love others.

Being a Christian comes with certain expectations, and one of them is that we will love others. Our Christian conduct is proof as to whether we love each other, and loving each other is proof that we belong to Christ. An unsaved person cannot love as God requires us to love!

A healthy, biblical definition of love is essential if we are to understand the heartbeat of God and the message of His Word. Scripture makes it clear that love is not confined to romance or sexuality, nor is it primarily an emotion. Biblical love is a commitment. It is a deliberate, courageous decision to extend oneself for the well-being of another, regardless of feelings.

In God’s design, love does not wait for good feelings to appear before acting. Instead, love acts first, and right actions often give birth to right feelings. This is why love endures hardship, remains faithful in difficulty, and chooses grace even when emotions fluctuate. Jesus Himself became the perfect demonstration of this kind of love when He laid down His life, not because we were deserving, but because He was committed to our redemption.

In reflecting on that season, I was reminded that difficulty doesn’t belong to just one side of a relationship. There have been times in my own journey when my responses, expectations, or wounds may have made me hard to love as well. Praise God for His grace that met me there, too, and continues to do so.

This helps us understand an important truth: love, as God defines it, is not blind, but it is redemptive. It sees clearly yet chooses wisely.

Biblical love does not deny flaws, failures, or wounds. It does not pretend that sin doesn’t exist or that pain hasn’t shaped our behavior. Instead, love looks beyond what is visible in the moment. Love sees the image of God in a person even when that image has been distorted by pain, sin, immaturity, or brokenness. This is the kind of love God extends to us, and the kind He calls us to reflect.

To love this way, we must first understand the nature of God’s love. When we reflect on His love, we stop focusing on flaws and begin responding with grace. This begins with the truth that God’s love is forgiving!

The Word of God reminds us that “love covers a multitude of sins,” as noted in 1 Peter 4:8. Covering does not mean excusing wrongdoing or enabling destructive patterns. Rather, it means refusing to define someone solely by their worst moment, deepest wound, or current struggle. Love looks past behavior to the heart behind it, recognizing that behavior is often the fruit of something unresolved beneath the surface.

Before we examine how God calls us to love others, we must pause and remember this truth: every one of us has needed patience, forgiveness, and grace. At some point in our lives, we were the ones God loved patiently, when we were not easy, polished, or pleasant.

God’s Love Is Forgiving: We may be able to understand a God who would forgive sinners who come to Him for mercy. But a God who tenderly searches for sinners and then joyfully forgives them must possess an extraordinary love! This is the kind of love that prompted Jesus to come to earth for lost people and save them. God does not define us by our past failures, but by His grace and mercy – Praise God! His love looks beyond what we’ve done and offers forgiveness that restores rather than condemns. This is the kind of extraordinary love that God has for you. If you feel far from God, don’t despair. He is waiting for you.

Romans 8:28-39 provides us with this truth: we are convinced that nothing can ever separate us from His love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Personal Application: When love sees the best, it refuses to hold grudges or rehearse offenses. We choose forgiveness over fault-finding, remembering that we, too, stand in need of grace. Seeing the best means we do not reduce people to their mistakes, but we allow room for repentance, growth, and healing.

Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

God’s Love Is Beyond Measure: These words were written to a church that would soon undergo terrible persecution. In just a few years, Paul’s hypothetical situations would turn into painful realities. This passage reaffirms God’s profound love for his people. No matter what happens to us, no matter where we are, we can never be lost to His love.

Suffering should not drive us away from God; it should help us to identify with Him further and allow His love to reach us and heal us. God’s love is not rationed or limited by human standards. It is vast, immeasurable, and not based on worthiness or performance.

Personal Application: When we see others through God’s love, we stop measuring them by our expectations or comparing them to others. Love sees the potential God has placed within them, not just where they currently are. Seeing the best means we extend grace freely, without keeping score.

Ephesians 3:18-19 reminds us, “And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”

God’s Love Is Sacrificial: God’s love cost Him something. Christ willingly laid down His life for our redemption, choosing obedience and compassion over comfort. The entire gospel comes to a focus in this verse. God’s love is not static or self-centered; it reaches out and draws others in. Here God sets the pattern of true love, the basis for all love relationships. When you love someone dearly, you are willing to pay dearly for that person’s responsive love. God paid dearly with the life of his Son, the highest price he could pay. Jesus accepted our punishment, paid the price for our sins, and then offered us the new life that he had bought for us.

When we share the gospel with others, our love must be like Jesus’. We must be willing to give up our own comfort and security so that others might join us in receiving God’s love. Psalm 136:1 says, “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.”

Personal Application: Seeing the best in others often requires sacrifice, laying aside pride, personal offense, or the desire to be right. Love chooses humility and seeks the well-being of others, even when it is inconvenient or uncomfortable.

1 John 3:16 – “By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us.”

God’s Love Is Inexhaustible: God’s love never runs out. It is not depleted by repeated failures, ongoing struggles, or slow growth. Repeated throughout Psalm 136 is the phrase, “His faithful love endures forever.” This psalm may have been a responsive reading, with the congregation saying these words in unison after each sentence. The repetition made this important lesson sink in. God’s love includes aspects of love, kindness, mercy, and faithfulness. We never have to worry that God will run out of love, because it flows from a well that will never run dry. God’s love never runs out. It is not depleted by repeated failures, ongoing struggles, or slow growth. Love Sees the Best: Reflecting God’s Love in How We See Others!

As Believers in Christ, we are called to love as God loves. This does not mean ignoring sin or pretending flaws do not exist. It means choosing to view others through the lens of God’s redemptive love, not human judgment. When we understand the nature of God’s love toward us, it reshapes how we see and treat others.

Personal Application: As Believers in Christ, we do not grow weary in loving others, even when they disappoint us. Seeing the best means we remain patient and compassionate, trusting God’s work in their lives rather than rushing judgment.

Lamentations 3:22 “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end.” To love as Christ loves is to see people not as they are in their brokenness, but as who they can become through God’s redeeming grace. Love sees the best, not because flaws don’t exist, but because God’s love is greater than every flaw.

God’s Love Is Eternal. As Believers in Christ, history reminds us that we have always had to face hardships in many forms: persecution, illness, imprisonment, and even death, and we will always. These could cause many to fear that they have been abandoned by Christ. No, as the Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans chapter 8, that it is impossible to be separated from Christ. His death for us is proof of his unconquerable love. God’s love is not temporary or conditional. It does not fluctuate with circumstances, seasons, or behavior. His love is secure and unchanging. Nothing can stop Christ’s constant presence with us. God tells us how great His love is so that we will feel totally secure in him. If we believe in these overwhelming assurances, we will not be afraid. John 3:16 says that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Personal Application: When love sees the best, it commits to people for the long haul. We resist labeling, dismissing, or giving up on others. Eternal love reminds us that God is still writing their story, just as He is writing ours.

Romans 8:38-39 contains one of the most comforting promises in all Scripture, which says, “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below, indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

To love as Christ loves is to see people not as they are in their brokenness, but as who they can become through God’s redeeming grace. Love sees the best, not because flaws don’t exist, but because God’s love is greater than every flaw.

HEART CHECK: Take a moment to examine your heart honestly before God:

Is there someone I find difficult to love right now?
Have I been focusing more on their flaws than on God’s work in their life?
Am I reacting from past hurt, frustration, or emotion rather than responding through prayer and discernment?
Do I trust that God is able to work in others just as He is working in me?

Remember: love doesn’t deny reality, it chooses redemption.

HEART CHALLENGE: This week, intentionally practice ‘Love That Sees the Best’ as a pathway to healing:

Pause before responding. Ask God for wisdom, restraint, and the right words, especially in difficult interactions. Invite the Holy Spirit to guide your words and reactions.
Refuse to rehearse offenses. When tempted to replay hurtful moments, release them to God. Forgiveness is a healing decision, not an emotional feeling.
Speak life! Speak with grace and truth and choose words that build unity rather than fuel division
Speak words and responses that bring peace and unity rather than division.
Choose compassion over assumption. Ask, “What might God be doing beneath the surface?”
Pray in real time, asking God for wisdom even in the middle of conversations.
Trust God’s work. Healing and transformation are God’s responsibility, not ours.
Trust God with the outcome. Your role is to love; God’s role is to transform.

Loving as God loves may stretch you, but it will also shape you. Obedience aligns the heart.

Alignment releases healing.

These standing orders sustain heart health and prevent spiritual and emotional complications.

STANDING ORDERS FOR THE HEART: Daily Administration of God’s Prescription for Loving Well!

Administer these Standing Orders – Love with Intention, Not Emotion!

♥ Forgive as you have been forgiven. Administer a daily dose of .

♥ Guard your heart from bitterness. Take a ‘prn’ (as needed) dose of Proverbs 4:23.

♥ Respond in grace and truth. Administer an intramuscular (IM) dose of John 1:14 every week to be ready to respond with grace and truth.

♥ Trust God with outcomes. Administer a sublingual (under the tongue) dose of in a world that plays around with tragic uncertainty.

God’s Standing Orders sustain heart health and prevent spiritual and emotional complications. (God’s Prescription for Loving Well)

♥ Love with intention, not emotion.

♥ Forgive as you have been forgiven. “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you”. Matthew 6:14

♥ Guard your heart from bitterness. “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you”. Ephesians 4:31-32

♥ Respond in grace and truth. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen”. Ephesians 4:29

♥ Trust God with outcomes – responding in grace and truth: “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Colossians 4:6

Loving difficult people becomes possible when we remember how faithfully God has loved us, even in seasons when we were not easy to love!

LET’S PRAY: Father God, thank You for Your authoritative, inerrant, and inspired Word, which gives us clear instructions on how to love others as You love us. Thank You for loving us with a love that forgives, sacrifices, and never gives up. Thank You for seeing beyond our flaws and meeting us with grace and truth. Search our hearts and reveal anything that is misaligned with Your love. Help us to love others as You have loved us, especially when it is difficult. Soften our responses and teach us to pray even in the middle of hard moments. May our response to love be anchored by Your truth, guided by Your Spirit, and rooted in Your love. Guard our hearts from bitterness, heal the places wounded by disappointment, misunderstanding, or hurt, bringing honor to Your name. Teach us to love as You love, patiently, sacrificially, and without keeping score. Help us to see others through Your eyes and to guard our hearts so that love flows freely, in the Precious, Powerful, and Preeminent Name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.