“The LORD said to me, ‘Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods.’” ⎯ Hosea 3:1

Have you ever been caught in the “one up story” conversation? That’s when someone tells about an event in his or her life and people try to outdo what happened to that person by telling a bigger and better experience in their own life. 

For example you might be in a group and the conversation goes something like this:

• Person A: “You won’t believe what Jill said about me.”
• Person B: “Well Erica said some bad stuff about me and we go to church together.”
• Person C: “That’s nothing. Megan lied about me and we’ve supposedly been friends since kindergarten.”

The prophet Hosea would probably have the ultimate “one up story.” He could say his wife had children by other men, left him, then returned to a life of prostitution before God told him to go buy her back and continue to show love to her. Now THAT’S a story of loving others.

When it comes to loving people who are difficult to love, people around you may have some incredible stories. Perhaps you have what you think is the “one up” story of all time but you would be wrong. The greatest example of loving the unlovable is when God showed His love to YOU sending His Son Jesus to die for your sins. Since God showed such great love to us then we should show His great love to those we see as truly unlovable.