“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.” (Matthew 5:43-45a NLT)
It’s much easier to love someone who loves us, who’s kind, considerate, thoughtful, generous, and loving towards us, but it can become challenging to love someone who clearly detests the ground we walk on. It makes sense to us to ignore them, have no contact with them, give them no thought at all, but LOVE them? How is that even possible.
One understanding of the Greek term “love” is intelligent good will. This is a love based not on emotion and instinct, but on an act of the will. It’s a decision we make that benefits someone in spite of our emotional distaste of them.
For example, let’s say someone comes to you and asks you if you know the person you dislike so much. They have a job opening for someone and they heard this person might be a qualified candidate and they want your opinion. While you might have reason to not want to be their friend, as a believer, in an effort to love them as Jesus would, you evaluate their qualifications for the job based on what you know, not what you’re personally feeling about them.
You know they have excellent credentials, they need a job like that, and they’d be a worthy prospect, so, setting aside your personal feelings and exercising your intelligent good will, you give them a credible endorsement for the job opportunity. You’ve just loved them.
Jackie Hill Perry spoke to this when she wrote: “You look a whole lot like Jesus when you love your enemies.” This can also be true in regard to those you leave behind when you turn from a lifestyle that was displeasing and dishonoring to the Lord. You may not “hate” them as persons, but their stance on a certain subject or lifestyle may force you to separate yourself from them.
Jackie Hill Perry was abused as a child and experienced other debilitating circumstances that led her into several same sex relationships. When she came to Christ, He delivered her from that lifestyle, but when she openly spoke out about the power of God to deliver, she was met with a lot of hatred and negative response from the “community” from which the Lord had delivered her.
But rather than return hate with hate, she has continued to reach out and seek to offer love and forgiveness to those who are still lost and struggling to find their way out of the tentacles of the homosexual lifestyle.
It’s not unlike that for any of us who are saved. We’re all saved from something to the new life we now have in the Lord and perhaps the greatest expression of love we can offer those who hate us is our unwavering commitment to pray for them.
The clearest and most dramatic illustration of this whole idea of loving those who hate us is the decision the Lord Jesus made to die for the very ones who mocked, tortured, and nailed Him to a cross. When you’re tempted to believe it’s too hard to love your enemies, take a long, hard look at the Cross
We’ll never look more like Jesus than when we’re intentionally loving someone who dislikes us.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 