Today's passage talks about not only loving your neighbor but also loving your enemies as well. This command is one of the toughest things to do because it is nearly impossible to love someone that you hate. If you think about it, hate and love are opposites and it sort of like a contradiction in itself.
But the verse that kind of got to me was verse 46 and it reads, "if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?" I think this is an important point that Jesus makes. What good will it do when we only love those who love us? What kind of message does it sent to the world? I mean even non-Christians know how to love so when it comes to love, so what sets us, Christians, apart from the rest of the world?
I see that to love one's enemy is a great sign of Christ love and it doesn't come from us but it comes from God because if we had it our way, we probably wouldn't even bother to have any association with our enemies. We probably try to stay far away from them and why should we show love to them. Well, God's love is infinite, merciful, and unconditional. He loves those who do him wrong. Even though we are his children, we were once his enemies too but since God is love, he sent Jesus Christ, who He loved, to come and die for us, who rejected Him. This is the gospel truth. Christ came to this world to share this truth with the world, so it is our job as His followers to share the gospel to everyone we meet, enemies included.
This concept of loving your enemies makes God seem like such a contraction sometimes but He's not. This is just the nature of God. It hard to understand but when we love our enemies, it is a good opportunity to show God's love, His nature, and His character to those around us. And he never said it would be an easy thing to do but we must because this is what we are called to do.
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5 comments:
thanks michelle for an excellent reflection. surely this is one of the hardest commandments given to christians anywhere in the Bible.
i disagree a little with your first point that "it is impossible to love someone that you hate . . . [that] hate and love are opposites". granted this command is an absolute impossibility IF you define love as "a feeling of affection".
but that is not what the Bible ever means by the word "love". when Jesus commands us to love our enemies, He is not asking us to feel something for them that we cannot feel.
He means that we are to "be kind to them"; we are to "be good to them", and "do loving things" for them.
in other words, we are to ACT lovingly, REGARDLESS of our feeling.
when we understand "love" as an action rather than a feeling, then we see that loving our enemies is not an impossibility. it is possible to show love or do good to our enemies (though admittedly very, very hard).
Jesus suggests that when we love our enemies in this way that we most approach likeness with God.
for Jesus states that God "is kind to the ungrateful and wicked" (luke 6:35).
we are also called to be "kind to the ungrateful and wicked". God help us all to do this.
but i believe God is very pleased when we are obedient to this most difficult of all commands. it shows that His children are growing into His likeness, drawing near to the perfection that is His alone (v 48).
Amen to what you said, Michelle. Every time I go deeply into God's word, it is like a hiidden treasure with which you have no utter words to describe the value of it. It is so true that it's easy to say than done about loving your enemies. How could you love someone who hates you, hurt you, and curse at you? How could you smile at someone who spit at you?
Dulla made a good point about loving is not feeling but action.
But difficulty is it's very hard to ignore our feeling because it is a strong force that controls us. We sin against God because we yield to our own feelings and desire and also lead us to act selfishly. I guess we can all challenge ourselves today to live out of God's Word by acting lovingly and kindly toward the "unlovable people."
I'm reminded of what I've learned a couple of summers ago. That to love is to give without expecting anything in return. To give time, service, my patience, my ear without expecting even a word or gesture of gratitude because that's how Christ showed God's love to us. He gave us everything we need without expecting repayment. It gave me peace and strength to face the hardships in those moments. Oh but how brief was the moment not only of comfort but also of conviction from those reflections! I guess my heart was full of weeds and thorns of selfishness and pride. It was there to choke and kill those words of life and now I grieve the loss of the fruits that could have been reaped. And you know, I still feel the sting from the damage made by these thorns in my heart. I do wish I had kept my selfishness and pride in check. I do wish I had kept leaning on God's words instead of leaning on the words of the world. Loving your enemies might be painful at the moment but the damage made in the name of self-love cuts deeper and will last much longer.
Thank you Michelle. Today I went to early morning service so it's 6:33 am in Korea. You're right it's hard to do loving things to someone who you don't like. It's like we South Korea people never like North Korea people and hate them for their stubbornness. We know we gotta pray for them but it's not easy to do that with all our heart. Let's follow his words! love everyone!!
Thanks Michelle! It is so hard to love those that have wronged you or rub you the wrong way ...and to be honest in the heat of the moment the lady thing that comes to mind is "love your enemy"...huh?!?
I'm not very good at this but the few times I have tried I've realized that it doesn't feel good AT ALL while you are being kind or loving the enemy...in fact it felt quite awful. But after the act of kindness when you see the enemy again, something has changed and you have just a little less anger and hatred towards them. I think it is God changing or softening your heart as you obey. This doesn't happen often but this has been my experience the few times I've consciously tried.
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