When people do their best to annoy, irritate and make your life miserable, “try to destroy them as enemies,” suggested Dr. Joe McKeever, preacher, cartoonist and retired director of missions for the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans.

He quickly added, “And turn them into friends.”

A couple of years ago Mckeever spoke to a room filled with women attending LifeWay’s National Conference for Ministry Assistants, where he shared stories of those in his own life, neighbors, and church members, with whom friendship and love was a real challenge.

“You don’t have to love someone, just start doing things for them,” advised McKeever, who shared the “four most basic acts of love” as found in Luke 6: 27-30. They are:

1.    Do good things for them
2.    Bless them
3.    Pray for them
4.    Give to them

Even if you don’t like someone, you can learn to love him or her by applying these basic principles from God’s Word, McKeever said. In doing so, an enemy is destroyed and you make a friend.

Mckeever, who often follows his presentation by drawing caricatures of those who attend, added that each person is unique and beautiful in their own way. He encouraged the ministry assistants to “love the one God gave you (their spouses) and quit comparing him to everyone else.” Likewise, he said, “Love how God made you. Stop comparing yourself to others. Even if you don’t like your smile, smile anyway. It will always make you look better.”

Photo and comments by Kent Harville

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