What Did Jesus Say About Loving Our Enemies?

What Did Jesus Say? - About Loving Our Enemies?

It is natural, according to our sinful human nature, that we love those who love us, but hate those who are our enemies and do us wrong.

When someone abuses us or causes us pain or loss, the natural thing for us is that we get back at them with revenge and like treatment. It seems to do us good to get even.

Jesus taught that even if someone causes us a great deal of anguish and pain, we are, by the grace of God, to love them and forgive them and help them. This requires a great deal more godliness on our part, and if we do as Jesus taught, it will reflect God's presence living in us. God has promised to greatly reward all those who do this.

It is not much of a problem to love those who are loveable, our friends, those who love us and help us; but it requires God's grace to love our enemies, those who would seek our harm.

Jesus's teaching was one hundred and eighty degrees out of phase with the thinking of his time, and it is so with the thinking of our time today.

Jesus said: “Ye have heard it said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the Publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the Publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5: 43-48.

Let us pray that God will, by his grace, instill within us his attribute of loving our enemies as well as our friends and neighbors so that his light may shine through us.