Do you have an enemy or adversary? I personally can’t identify any one person as my opponent. Some people may name their in-laws or maybe a neighbor or co-worker. Dictionary.com (2023) says that an enemy is a person who feels hatred for, fosters harmful designs against, or engages in antagonistic (unfriendly, hostile) activities against another. At this time in history, if you actively oppose the leftist democrat agenda, you will get hostility and hatred. You may even get persecuted if you express your Christian beliefs. Love sets a Christian apart from the rest of the world. So, Jesus’ teaching in today’s post can be applied by everyone.
Jesus Says to Love Your Enemies
Matthew 5:43-45 states, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (KJV says, But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you) 45so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” This part of Jesus’ sermon is very challenging because our sinful flesh cannot love those who hate us. It does not feel natural to bless someone who is cursing us or to pray for those persecuting us. This kind of love is a matter of our will and is not based on feelings. This type of love shows patience, kindness, goodwill, humility, gentleness, forgiveness, and so on towards those who do us harm or want to. This form of love comes from the divine life of Christ in us through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). So, if God cares for the evil and good, the just and unjust, so can we. Loving your enemies is a matter of submission to God. The devil wants us to submit to him and hate, destroy, and steal (John 10:10). James 4:7 states, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
How do we love our enemies?
Romans 12:19-20 states, Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Dr. Luke also records Jesus’s first sermon in chapter 6. I encourage you to read Dr. Luke’s written account. Let’s meditate on the following passage from this chapter. Luke 6:35-36 states, “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” Mercy is not giving what the other person deserves. To be compassionate toward the lost (without a savior) is showing mercy. The people we consider our enemies or those persecuting us do not know Christ as their Lord and Savior and are destined for hell, which is why we need to pray for them and show them mercy.
Jesus continues in Matthew 5:46-47, “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” The love described in these verses does not distinguish a righteous Christian from a worldly person. Loving those who love you does not require divine power or grace. Do you find it interesting that we will receive a reward when we love those who persecute or hurt us?
Can we be perfect as our heavenly Father?
Matthew 5:48 states, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” This sounds impossible, but with God’s divine power in us, we can be perfect as we obey Jesus’s teachings. The word “perfect,” in Greek commonly means “finished, complete, pure, holy.” The person who is perfect and holy fears God by turning from evil and doing good. When God purifies our hearts and we forgive those who hurt us, then we can perfectly love our enemies. 2Peter 1:3-4 states, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”
Conclusion
Do you find it hard to bless and do good to someone who hates you or hurts you? If you do, ask God to remove the resentment or bitterness created when you were offended by the hurtful things the person has done to you. Next, ask God to heal the painful memories and give you the grace to forgive them. Then, pray for God’s divine power to show Christ-like love and mercy toward them. You know when God heals your emotions and wounded soul when you can be thankful and speak well of the person who hurt you or despitefully used you. To learn more about this, read my online book 1–Healing Begins by Transforming Painful Memories.
May God bless you richly this week.
To learn more about wisdom, read the other posts about wisdom and being a wise person.
All verses are from the English Standard Bible. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family; hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.
Check out my latest book Breaking Mental Strongholds which you can order on Amazon. To learn more about it, read my post called Breaking Mental Strongholds Book. Also, check out Fighting Unseen Battles on Amazon. To learn more about this book, read: How to Fight Unseen Battles.
Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com, and ask for a PDF of Eight Life-changing Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, 23rd Psalm, and victory. I will also send you the Lord’s Prayer Model to pray effectively. Please leave your name, so I know you are a real person making the request.
Hope for Complete Healing 
Well said, especially now. It isn’t natural. Supernatural?
LikeLike
Thank you. The only way we can love our enemies, real or perceived (political) is with God’s grace and forgiveness.
LikeLike