Choosing peace...

The question on my heart this morning: Is God is okay with "blocking" or "de-friending" people?

On one hand, He has called us to love the unlovable and shutting ourselves off from people who are difficult kinda defeats the purpose of spreading God's love. But on the other hand, I have had a relationship or two where God has CLEARLY told me, "You are done.  Wash your hands and walk away."

I guess the best answer I have for this is:

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Romans 12:18

I think that almost all of the time God wants us to embrace the difficult people in our lives.... to reach out in love to those who rub us the wrong way... to live at peace with everyone.  I think once in awhile God may give us permission to let go... to shake the dust off our sandals... to let someone else be Jesus to that person who's hurt us again and again. But I don't think that happens very often. 

I think it's similar to being angry. The Bible says over and over and over again: control your anger. Yet most of us just love to use that ONE time Jesus got angry as our example instead. Because it's easy. It's easy to let our anger fly... its easy to avoid people who hurt us or make us uncomfortable.

I guess if the list of people you are cutting out of your life is longer than a couple you might want to rethink the validity of that choice. I don't think God wants "blocking" people to be our norm.  For me, I think that I'm just gonna keep on trying peace no matter how much it hurts.  Because I don't really care to be pain free, but I desperately WANT to be like Jesus.