Pastor Mike Hurst
1/18/15
- Matthew 5: 43-48
Love Your ENEMY?
The Bible says to Love our neighbors and love our ENEMY’S. Loving our family and friends is usually easy. However loving those that curse you and hate you is difficult.. but required.
The Bible says (paraphrasing): “Loving someone close to you takes no effort. Good and bad people usually love their close ones. However to show you have love for the ones who wrong you really demonstrates a Godly love.” The point here is we have a duty of discipleship to show a God-like love to the world. When we show love to a loved one, the world sees this as natural. When we show love toward an enemy, the world sees something Godly.
Having love toward an enemy does not necessarily mean you have an emotional attachment to this person. This means we will show them love through demonstration and acts of kindness towards them. When we exhibit this type of love we are being a witness for God. Our enemies will begin to wonder about how we continue to love them despite their hatred to us. Ideally, our continued witness in this manner will lead them to Christ and they will reciprocate this Love to us and the rest of the world.