But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love ~2 Peter 1:5-7, emphasis added.

Through the years, I’ve occasionally met people who would smile and say Hi, but the smile seemed plastic and the cheerful greeting insincere. My response in those situations is to love those people anyway. They may be harboring something against me that they don’t want to confront or they may be attempting to hide hurt, hoping no one will notice that they don’t feel like being social at present. Regardless, responding in kind does not help the situation and would not be a Godly response.

In 2 Peter 1, we are told to diligently add a list of things to our lives, not the least of which is adding love to brotherly kindness. In Matthew 5:44, Jesus challenged the disciples to “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” It’s not good enough to give the bare minimum of kindness; we are to love those who are the most difficult to love. He goes on to say, “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” (Matthew 5:46). Even the unbeliever loves those who do good to him. As the old song says, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”

If the best you have to give is a weak smile and a forced salutation, by all means do that much. But if circumstances require you to interact with someone you struggle to tolerate, ask God to change your heart so that you can genuinely love that person as God loves them.