Difficult people are everywhere—in your neighborhood, at your workplace, at your children’s school, and, inevitably, in your church. And while it’s natural to want to avoid those who can be difficult, you can impact their heart, bring joy to yours, and possibly even improve the overall atmosphere at your church when you choose to love the difficulty right out of them. 

I believe Satan works overtime to divide the unity in our churches. Why would the enemy of your soul and Christ’s church care if you are at odds with unbelievers? He wants to target your relationships with believers in order to destroy unity among God’s people because Jesus said the world would know His followers by their love for one another—which really means each other. 

Paul told the early Christians to make his “joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.” He then told them to “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves” (Philippians 2:2 NASB). Therein lies the formula for unity in our churches today, as well. And if you and I follow those instructions as best we can, we can keep Satan at bay instead of letting him gain a victory every time he incites you and me to dislike or just feel frustrated with difficult people to where we don’t want to be around them anymore. 

Don’t give in. Don’t fall for the schemes of the enemy who constantly tries to sow dissension among believers. And don’t succumb to the temptation to be carnal or self-serving when it comes to getting along with others. To bring glory to God, joy to your heart, and more unity to your local fellowship, here are seven ways to love the difficult people in your church.

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