John Norman, “Bringing in the Outcast” (Discipleship Journal):
We all have “lepers” in our lives—people we don’t want to touch because we’re repelled by their personalities, social skills, or emotional problems. Too often, we exclude certain people even from the Body of Christ because they don’t seem to fit in—another church would be better for them, we think.…
We need to make a clear, unequivocal commitment, as both individuals and churches, to loving the unlovable. And we need to make this commitment before we attempt to become involved with “social lepers.”
God doesn’t love us because we are lovable; He loves us because He has chosen to love us. This is the kind of love that transformed us, and it is the kind of love that will transform “social lepers.” In the same way that God loves us, we need to love the [difficult and unlovely] among us, not because they are lovable or because we always feel like loving them, but because we choose to love them.
Words of Grace 