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I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people.

“Be nice to everyone.” Everyone? I couldn’t believe what my mother was telling me. How could I be nice to everyone when everyone isn’t nice to me?

But she was standing on solid ground by laying down that principle for life because no less a person than Jesus expressed it himself in the same way, only with slightly different words. “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12).

But by giving the instruction he did, Jesus wasn’t only directing his disciples to be nice to everyone with their outward actions. After all, anyone can pretend to be nice to someone to their face, only to stab them in the back with unkind thoughts and words in the very next moment when they’re not looking. Jesus instead calls his followers to change from the inside out and to “love one another deeply, from the heart” (1 Peter 1:22).

And where can we begin, with the power of the Holy Spirit, to transform our hearts and minds to be more like Jesus? By taking to heart the apostolic encouragement that Paul once offered to his young pastor friend Timothy and the Christians he was shepherding. “I urge, then, first of all,” Paul wrote, “that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people.”

What’s the difference between “petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving”? Not much in the long run. But Paul probably piled up the words to illustrate how a Christian’s love and concern for all people should pile up like God’s own. As Jesus once pointed out about his Father’s love, “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45).

In the same way, we are called to be nice to everyone, not only when it comes to our outward actions but also in the very thoughts of our hearts. Let us pray for all people, even if we might suspect they’re not praying for us, asking the Lord Jesus to bless them with hearts of faith and joy and to grant them peace, now and forever.

Dear Jesus, help me to be more like you and inspire me to pray for everyone. Amen.

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.