What does God want to teach you through your job? I think toward the top of that list would be learning to love people you may not like that much! Your coworkers may not necessarily people you would choose to be with five days a week, eight hours a day. No doubt you have discovered not everyone is “your type,” and so you are challenged to get along with people who are not that easy to get along with.

In 1 Corinthians 13, the Bible teaches us the true definition of love. It is patient, it is kind, it looks for the good in people, not the bad, it doesn’t hold grudges, it hangs in with someone when others have given up, and it endures all things.

God’s love is an action, not necessarily a feeling, and you can choose to love someone by showing them these kinds of actions, even if you don’t like the way they behave, the way they treat you, their work habits, or their lifestyle.

Almost any job you have—and that includes working in a Christian environment—places you in the company of other people, and you have the privilege, the great opportunity, to learn to love people with God’s kind of love. That means you become more and more like Jesus, as you follow his commandment to “love one another.”

Of course, you also have the option of refusing to learn this lesson, and instead just being continually irritated and negative about the people you work with or for. You can choose to gripe and complain and blame others for your bad attitude. But all that gets you are bitter roots growing in your heart, which will cause you great pain and affect those around you, as well. But if you can see what God wants to teach you through working with difficult people, you then can turn a desert into a garden and use that tough place as your training grounds to teach you this incredibly useful and critical ability to love and get along with people you don’t like that much.

And just consider this—as you accept and learn what God wants to teach you through your job, your light for Jesus shines so much brighter. You have the great privilege of demonstrating through the way you work and the way you treat others the difference it makes when Jesus is the central focus of your life. I want to encourage you not to miss what God wants to teach you through your job. They are worthwhile lessons that will make a difference in your life and your testimony for Jesus.