How do you love some one who doesn't love his/her self? What is the proper Christian response to self-destructive behavior? What if rebuke and correction are not taking root? What if you have tried kindness and patience, but you feel you are about out of both?
Some situations in life are so complicated and frustrating. There are no easy answers, at least none that satisfy the heart bent on honoring God. The Lord would not be pleased if we went around conking heads together.
Instead, we must turn to the Lord in a spirit of prayer. We must pray as if lives were at stake, because they are. We must exercise patience while we pray for the strength to endure. We must trust the Lord to help us bear up under the load of our circumstance.
Another thing we must do is to stay the course. We keep caring. We keep speaking the truth in love. We keep hoping for the sun to rise on another day for those wayward sheep. We cry out to the holy God, who rescued us from our sin, that he would deliver them from theirs.
Love can't "throw in the towel." Love never says die. Love must continue to plod along, steady and straight. We must try to see ourselves in their shoes, and love them like we would want to be loved. All the while, we should be asking God to love them through us, and to teach us to love them like he does.
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