"Life is too short to waste your time on people who don't respect, appreciate, and value you." This advice has been going the rounds on social media. It sounds sensible, the words of someone who has life and other people sussed out. I can see why it's an attractive sound-bite, and why it might seem like the best way to deal with the difficult and challenging people in our lives.
But, and it's quite a significant but. I can't for the life of me hear Jesus saying this to his disciples. Oh, I know. He did say if people don't listen to your message of the Kingdom of God, move on and find people who will listen. But that isn't the get out of jail free card we might think.
Jesus said "Love your neighbour as yourself." For his homework, Jesus told Peter to do the maths and work out how much 70x7 was, and be ready to forgive that many times! And in case that isn't clear enough, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you, and persecute you.”
None of this was ever meant to be easy. But according to Jesus, the sign of the Kingdom of God is when we refuse to retaliate, write people off, or think taking time to work on difficult relationships is a "waste of time."
We all want to be valued, appreciated and respected. Maybe that's why Jesus also said, "Treat others the way you expect each person to treat you." Loving others is to value, appreciate and respect each person, precisely because that's how we hope to be treated by them.
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