Don't Write People Off
Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. I Corinthians 13:7 (New Living Translation, NLT)
Have you ever watched a television show and suddenly the character you liked was gone? You found out later that they were written off, maybe because of a disagreement or salary dispute or simply because producers wanted to change the direction of the show. So, the writers just wrote their character off the show.
Sometimes we do the same thing with people. We just write them off, saying, “They’ll never change.” Or we just get tired of dealing with them, their drama or their recurring issues, so we write them off and cut off contact. Sometimes it seems easier to write people off and replace them with other people than it is to stick with them through their mess. When we write people off, we give up on them. We think we don’t want them or need them anymore so we walk away.
Of course, there are some people that God will tell us to separate ourselves from because they are not good for us. Even those people that we must get away from for our own protection and wellbeing can still be the subject of our prayers. We can believe God’s best for them even if we cannot have contact with them. And sometimes, God simply changes seasons, and the relationships of the old season do not go with us into the new one. But, we can move on while keeping them in prayer and believing the best for them.
God never writes us off. He sticks with us and He’s writing new story lines for us, for our day, our month, our year, and our lives. With God, there’s no writing someone off. Instead, the story line gets better and better, with God writing new parts, scripts, and plans for our lives. He’s already written so much about our lives in the Word of God. As we read the Word, we see the part He wrote for us. The more we read it, the more we understand our role, the better we know our lines, and the better our “performance” in our role. Many are watching how we live our lives. Will we give them a good performance so they’ll want to keep watching or maybe even join in? And will we write others off or keep them in the storyline of our lives?
God never writes us off and He never gives up on someone. They may give up on themselves, but God will keep loving and wanting the best for them until they take their last breath. God is the Writer, Producer, and Director of life, and He helps us to be the best in our given role- to bring glory to Him. If we make a mistake, He won’t write us off, but He will help us until we get better and better. He is always writing new scripts for us. So, we need to be patient with others and not be so quick to write them off. Don’t lose hope. As we treat others the way the Lord treats us, we will point people to Jesus.
