Matthew 5:43-48
Love for Enemies
43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Jesus teaches us that we have heard that it was said for us to love your neighbor and hate your enemy...But He tells us, to love your enemies....Not only to love our enemies but pray for those who treat you badly....If we can do this, you will be children who are truly like your Father in heaven...His Father lets the sun rise for all people, whether they are good or bad...He sends rain to those who do right and to those who do wrong...If you love only those who love you, why should we get a reward for that?...Most people do that...And if you are nice only to your friends, you are no better than anyone else...Even the people who don’t know God are nice to their friends...What Jesus teaches is that we must be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect...How tough this is to love and pray for our enemies...We need His help to do this...We cannot be Perfect as He is...We make mistakes each and everyday...The world's goodness is directly linked and hinged to His being able to forgive, and His being able to help us give the world its goodness...Trying to do the things Jesus does is exhausting, confusing, and trying because He is Divine...Let us try our best to follow Him and love and pray for our enemies -and ask for His help to do the things we need to do to follow Him...
Christian writer Corrie Ten Boom wrote about these things of forgiveness and loving one's enemy...She says: “Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred...It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.”...“Trying to do the LORD's work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work...But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.”...“Even as the angry vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them...Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more?...LORD Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him...Jesus, I cannot forgive him...Give me your forgiveness...And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His...When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives along with the command, the love itself.”...