Jesus wants us to understand how God also deals with His enemies. God loves them. Yes, He may bring justice against them but only as a loving Father. I have yet to ever read that God hates His enemies. He hates sin. He hates the affects of sin. But He loves people and constantly asks why people hate Him without cause.
The Pharisee had taught for generations that people should hate their enemies because they are enemies of God. God never sanctioned this (I could be wrong but you will have to show be chapter and verse). How do I know this? Look at the words of Jesus:
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:44-45 (NIV)
Jesus “tells” us. He gives us a command to love our enemies. And He wants us to pray for them. Why? So we can be children of God, our Father in heaven. Loves your enemies and become children. Hate your enemies, and you become alienated from God. Hate is very destructive and never builds relationship. God is love and love creates relationship. Therefore, “love/hate” relationships are not of God.
God gives us all the same care on earth. Just because I love God does not mean my property is going to get more rain. Just because I love God does not mean I will get any more sun that a next door neighbor if they hate Him. We all have equal access to God’s love. Some choose it while others, twisted by their sin, resist it. If we truly love God’s grace, we will show our love of God by trying to show everyone what grace looks like. Grace is free. It is not earned nor is it exclusive. It freely flows from a loving God to those who choose to receive it. Grace came at a cost but not to us yet for us. Jesus would soon show His disciples the crux of God’s grace – His death for them and all who accept Him as Lord and Savior.
On a simpler level, love is easy if it does not cost us anything. I love my family. I love my friends. I love my church family. We can all say we love something or someone (at least at some time in our lives we have), especially when they love us back! The cost of love is that we allow ourselves to become vulnerable to hurt and disappointment. If you can’t take the pain, don’t love – yet you will never experience love either.
Love is an experience. God loves us regardless of what we have done. God loves us even when we do not love Him. That is grace. Anyone can love those that are easy to love and who return our love with love. Only those who know God’s grace can love those who are hard difficult to love and refuse to return that love.
Jesus uses the despised tax collector as an example. Tax collectors loved their families. They were seen as traitors by others Israelites and also seen as heartless and cold individuals. However, tax collectors could show love just like anyone else. Jesus says we should even love them.
We should love the person taking too much time behind the counter because they are talking to another cashier about what their boy friend did or did not do. We should love the person who is a bully. We should love those who openly display their sinful behaviors (take your pick). We should love those who threaten to harm us. We should love those who have hurt our kids (oh that is a hard one).
You are not any better than your “enemy” when it comes to loving those who love you. What should make you different as a Christian is that you have faith in the grace of God and love Him so much that you cannot help but to share that grace with all people. I have used the Lincoln example many times before and I use it again:
When asked why Lincoln did not destroy his enemies, Lincoln simply stated that by making his enemy his friend was he not destroying that enemy. Whether true or not true, we could all learn a lesson here. Love is God’s standard and helps to move us towards perfection. Perfection here means to be complete. Hatred tears things apart. Love competes and makes things whole.
Be perfect as God is perfect. Love as God loves. Care as God cares. Share as God shares. Be a difference as God is the difference.
- How can you better live out loving others who are hard to love?
- How does forgiveness figure into being able to love others?
- How does the Holy Spirit help us to love others? Are we sensitive to His guidance?
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