Making Peace with Prickly People: Transforming Relationships by Loving God, Self, and Others

I’m mad at you! We try over and over to improve a relationship and yet nothing ever changes. Are you ready to try something new? The secret to making peace in relationships is given in the two greatest commandments, found in the Bible: love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength; and love your neighbor as yourself.

God’s most important guidelines in the Bible have to do with relationships. Think of them as the two basic things needed to have a successful life. The reason most of us fail at healing relationships is we fail to begin at the beginning. Before I can make peace with a prickly person – or love my neighbor as myself - I need to have a healthy love for myself. Before I can have a healthy love for myself I must learn to love in a healthy way – by understanding how God loves me.

We can only love because God first loved us. God invented love. How surprising – or perhaps not – the inventor of love would want rebellious people to love Him back. He watches us from heaven, His heart on His sleeve. How utterly exposed and out on a limb of God! The most powerful force in the universe is a sucker for the very love He invented.

Join us on a journey as we ponder love through new research into the personality of Jesus, revealing a Biblical four-fold model. We’ll dive deep into Jesus’ perfect personality, who loves us with all His Heart, all His Soul, all His Mind, and all His Strength.

As Christ’s image bearers, we also have a four-fold personality. Each one of us is unique, each bearing a little slice of Jesus-Genius. Our personalities are far from perfect, however. Our heart, soul, mind, and strength are tainted by our sin nature, making us rather prickly. In some cases, we’ve become our own worst enemies and struggle to find anything lovable about ourselves.

God so desired a relationship with us that He sent His son Jesus to make peace with us, the prickly people. God offers forgiveness and invites us to make peace with Him. When we receive that forgiveness we begin the process of learning how to love God and love ourselves in a healthy way. Loving God enables us to love ourselves as the Bible defines us – not as the wounds of the past have colored our self-perception. We are free to heal from past hurts and adopt a new self-identity in Christ.

Jesus loves us “as is.” He offers forgiveness to anyone, there’s no price to be paid. That’s how He asks us to love others, “as is.” Love your neighbor as yourself. Love your enemies, for heaven’s sake! The process of making peace with prickly people is not an easy one, but it is possible to do. We examine forgiveness, boundaries, and perspective as we navigate loving others. Gain perspective with practical tips presented in case studies with prickly people.

Finally, learn about the one prickly person we should never make peace with, and why he is thrilled when we struggle with prickly personality problems.

For those not sure how to make peace with God, who struggle to be at peace with themselves, or who fail at navigating personality clashes with prickly people – this book will open the door to real, lasting peace.