Matthew 5:43-48
Love Thy 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 children 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 own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
1 John 4:7-21
God is LOVE
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
God is faithful in His LOVE, because He is God...God is LOVING, faithful and forgiving...The Kingdom of God has all these things -love, faith, and forgiveness...Maybe forgiveness is not needed if we completely love each and everyone in heaven...But we do know that God is completely forgiving...And He has the ability to forgive very, very quickly...
St. Matthew writes about Jesus and Him telling us that we are to forgive our enemies...St. John tells us that we are to love our wives, our brothers, our sisters, our neighbors...And that if we do not love our neighbors, then we do not know God....
Each day we go about our day and our daily routines...I do not know how much each of us give thought to loving all in whom we meet each day, but I believe Jesus did...He LOVED all people, and all those He met...I believed He even LOVED the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin...If these were His enemies, He LOVED them...That is what He taught...
And it would be good if we could follow, as best we can, what Jesus did...We meet with and talk with and must love and forgive our spouses, our brothers, our sisters and our neighbors....And this includes our enemies...This is not easy, especially loving, forgiving of one’s enemies...But we know that God is LOVE and He is in eternity...While we are on earth and are doing the best we must try to keep the faith, the love, the forgiveness going on a daily basis...Jesus teachings are not a part-time thing...Just as loving an enemy is difficult, keeping the faith is sometimes difficult...
Again, the difficulty of loving those you meet each day, is a challenge...Disagreements happen, opinions differ, and loving your neighbors can become a challenge of your patience and one's perseverance...But loving and forgiving, and one's faith are of eternal significance, because loving, forgiving, and keeping the faith are things of the eternal and have eternal significance....I certainly expect the Kingdom of Heaven is completely loving, completely forgiving and God will complete our love, our forgiveness, and our faith in heaven...But again, on a daily basis, this is not easy...