LOVING OUR ENEMIES

“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 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.” —Matthew 5:43–45

In the broken relationships that the Bible describes and the fear that results from them, it is inevitable that there will be some people who are easy to love, some whom we would prefer to hate or avoid, some who frighten us, who might even wish us harm. But Jesus did not give His followers those options. He urged us to love all people, especially those we might consider enemies—and, in the worst-case example, those who are actually persecuting us. In every case—best case to worst case—Jesus’ command was, and is, to love. Love can be mistaken for some kind of nice feeling toward a particular person, which can be terribly hard to create if we take it on as a merely emotional project. But the example of God’s actions that Jesus gave His disciples was much more practical and tangible. The Bible insists that in every situation and scenario, God seeks our good, whatever our relationship with Him.

And this is the model that Jesus gave to His followers.

Loving our enemies and praying for our persecutors is about actively seeking their good. It is not about warm emotion but practical service.

This might mean that we risk rejection and ridicule—and we need to be alert to unhealthy and abusive situations, which are not good for the abuser or us—but this is the courage that love requires. And sometimes, when we work for the good of others, we can come to truly desire their good and begin to restore the relationships that are broken between us.