What does the Bible say about dealing with difficult people?
"Don’t pay back evil with evil. Don’t pay back unkind words with unkind words. Instead, pay back evil with kind words. This is what you have been chosen to do. You will receive a blessing by doing this" (1 Peter 3:9).
"Hate stirs up fights. But love erases all sins by forgiving them" (Proverbs 10:12).
"Avoiding a fight brings honor to a person. But every foolish person is quick to argue" (Proverbs 20:3).
We are to treat difficult people with kindness and love.Difficult people have a way of annoying us. Somehow, they know just how to make us upset. Difficult people can be defined as people who are rude, mean, selfish, or argumentative. They are always trying to cause problems or start a fight. While we cannot control the actions or behaviors of difficult people, we can control how we respond to them.
Jesus outlines how we should respond to difficult people. The Lord says, “But here is what I tell you who are listening. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who call down curses on you. And pray for those who treat you badly” (Luke 6:27–28). If we are going to walk in accordance with the Lord, we should be kind and extend love to difficult people. We don’t need to be rude or angry toward them.
Whenever a difficult person insults us, we don’t need to get back at them (Proverbs 12:16). Instead, we need to ignore their insult and strive for peace. If we choose to love all people, as Jesus commands, it will be easier to deal with the people in our lives who tend to be difficult. Love can help us forgive others and move forward to being more peaceable followers of the Lord.
