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.
"When they hurled their insults at Jesus, He did not retaliate; when He suffered on the cross, He made no threats...Instead, Jesus entrusted Himself to God who judges justly." (1 Peter 2:23)...Jesus loves His enemies and demonstrates how He LOVED His enemies...
The verses above are short, simple, straight forward and one might think - easy to follow...It is easy to love those who love you...When Jesus tells me to love my enemy and to pray for them, I for some reason find that very difficult...And the issue must be that I want them to agree with what I believe and not what they believe...So how I respect and act toward that person I disagree with profoundly is of utmost importance to Him and His love thy enemy teaching...I must better understand how my enemies see the world and why they view it differently ...But still I find it hard to have someone that is completely in disagreement with many of my beliefs and worldview be loved and to be treated in a proper way...Maybe it is like my thoughts on the non-believer...His views are different than mine...I disagree with him, and maybe I should be treating him as one who is lost and not been found by our Father yet, and not as someone I disagree with...
You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'...But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."...Followers of Jesus are taught and called to love and forgive those who despise us and persecute us...To follow in Jesus' footsteps is to walk in the way of love and not in one of retaliation and revenge and bitterness...Let us pray to do our best to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is Perfect...