“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-48
It is easy to love those who love us, who are kind to us, who value us. Anyone can do that.
However, loving our enemies is a different thing altogether; that is a call to move into the unfamiliar, to come into another realm.
To love unconditionally: that requires the refinement, the purification of our hearts. It is a call to perfection.
The Father’s heart is fully committed to us and to our enemies: that person who damages us, the one who slanders us, the one who hurts us, robs us, violates us. When we choose to love the “unlovable” we come against everything in us that resists dying to self, but when we do, we become like our Father in Heaven. He is not swayed by the actions of anyone, but only guided by His love for man he created, in whom he sees a part of himself, that part he is fully committed to redeem. We must look for that spark of the Father in everyone we meet, particularly those we shy away from because of the pain they cause or may cause us.
It is easy to love those who love us, who are kind to us, who value us. Anyone can do that.
However, loving our enemies is a different thing altogether; that is a call to move into the unfamiliar, to come into another realm.
To love unconditionally: that requires the refinement, the purification of our hearts. It is a call to perfection.
The Father’s heart is fully committed to us and to our enemies: that person who damages us, the one who slanders us, the one who hurts us, robs us, violates us. When we choose to love the “unlovable” we come against everything in us that resists dying to self, but when we do, we become like our Father in Heaven. He is not swayed by the actions of anyone, but only guided by His love for man he created, in whom he sees a part of himself, that part he is fully committed to redeem. We must look for that spark of the Father in everyone we meet, particularly those we shy away from because of the pain they cause or may cause us.
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