Love Your Enemies

 

[Jesus said] “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:43-45 ESV).

 

Many people have their favorite verses in scripture. But I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone quote this one as their favorite. After all, who really wants to do this, anyway? Love your friends, yes. Love the people who treat you nicely and respectfully, yes. Love your enemies? We might want to question if this is really what Jesus said. The word here used denotes moral love, as distinguished from the other word, which expresses personal affection. It denotes the compassionate outgoings of desire for another's good. Jesus is saying we must have a compassion for them, and a good will toward them. 

 

Though we may not like to admit it, we all have enemies. Jesus assumes there are people in our lives we simply cannot get along with. It may be a bully at school; an ex-spouse; a person who works in the next cubicle. For whatever reason, your relationship with that person is tainted with animosity and hostility. But Jesus insists that we treat with kindness even those who make our lives miserable. Most everyone is kind to people who are kind to them. The mark of true discipleship, however, lies in how we act toward people who treat us like enemies. Following Jesus entails praying for people who wish us harm, going out of our way to be friendly to the unfriendly, and offering to help someone who has hurt us.

 

The reason is because God’s children must learn to mimic their heavenly Father, who shows kindness to people who don’t deserve it. Most of all, loving our enemies is vital because if God did not love his enemies, you and I would be eternally lost. God loved his enemies—including you and me—enough to die for them. (cf. Romans 5:6-11).

 

Before you can show any outward display of loving your enemies there must first be an inward transformation. In other words, if you can’t love someone who is against you, the problem is because of what is inside you. The other person is not the problem. I know this seems impossible… it is for us alone. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. Nothing is impossible with Him!