-- Thursday, 7/28/11 -- LOVE YOUR ENEMIES - Matthew 5:43-45a

[J.R. & Bonnie Ricks]

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LOVE YOUR ENEMIES - Matthew 5:43-45a

 

“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, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”

 

Oh, how very difficult it is to follow the commandment that Jesus gave us in these verses.  It's easy to love your friends.  It's easy to love people who live the way you do.  It's easy to love your family.  It's easy to love people who dress the way you do, go to the same church, live in the same neighborhood, vote for the same candidates, enjoy the same recreation, share the same ideas.

 

But how about your enemies?  "I don't have any enemies," you say.  Really?  Your "enemy" is that person at the office who drives you crazy, like the woman I mentioned yesterday.  Your "enemy" is that woman who spends a large portion of her spare time trying to dig up some good "dirt" on you so she can tell everyone else – and if she can’t find any “dirt”, she creates some out of her overly fertile imagination.  Your "enemy" it He?  Yes, He did.  “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:8) 

 

He also tells us that we are to use Jesus as our role model… that we are to love others in the same way He does.  God loves the entire world... and we must, too.  We must learn to love the way that God loves.  Remember – love is not an emotion… it is a conscious commitment of your will to do whatever is in the best interest of the other person, no matter how you feel about it or how it will affect you.  That is the kind of love Jesus demonstrated for us on the cross.  It’s the kind of love we are to give others, including our enemies.

 

If we’re going to love with God’s kind of love, then we must reach out in that love to people who are perpetrating these many, many sins, helping them to see not only that what they are doing is wrong, but that God loves them and will forgive them for any atrocity, no matter how great it is.  Returning hate and violence for evil accomplishes nothing.  Remember, Jesus says that we must let our light shine.  We must stand out and be different.  To be different, we must approach all situations of sin with love and kindness and gentleness.

 

Pray that God will give you a love – His kind of love - for all people, no matter how evil their actions are.

 

All Bible quotes contained in these devotionals are from the New International Version 1984 (NIV1984), unless otherwise specified.

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