Loving Difficult People

Calvin Miller delivers a wonderful resource for ministers in his recent book, Letters to a Young Pastor. Miller draws on his 30 years of pastoral ministry and his perspective as a seminary professor to encourage, caution, and challenge a new generation of pastors. Essential reading for anyone in ministry!

Above all, never hate anyone. 

John said that to claim to love God and hate your brother is but a great deception that blinds you to what you really are, the certified lover of the church, all of the church, starting with the difficult people.  

Most people are difficult once in a while. In fact, nearly everybody is a problem to somebody, sometime, somewhere. You must decide whether to solve these people problems, cope with them, ignore them, or run them off. Pastor, I know that in ministry it gets hard to like everybody. Will Rogers did, I know, but then there's a general feeling that while Will never met a man he didn't like, he never really got out all that much. And I'm pretty sure he never pastored a church. 

I think you could insert served a church rather than pastored, because anyone who serves in a ministerial position faces this challenge weekly.