MATTHEW 5:43–48
“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. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
REFLECTION
The law never taught us to hate our enemies—Exodus 23:4–5 is a great example of God teaching us early on how to love our enemies! Because Christian love is an act of will, and not an emotion, this is a command we can willfully obey with Jesus’ help. After all, God loved us when we were his enemies (Romans 5:10), and he now expects us to love one another as Christ has sacrificially loved us (John 13:34–35). It is hard for us to hate someone we’re praying for. When we pray for our enemies, we find it easier to love them.3
But who are our enemies? Jesus and his followers had real enemies who wished them harm. They persecuted Jesus and his followers, crucified Jesus, and killed some of his followers! Today, we generally don’t experience this kind of violent protest. But we will always be faced with people who are not like us, either in what they believe, how they dress, or what they are interested in. If Jesus says we should pray for our enemies, how much more should we pray for people who are not like us, who don’t like us, or whom we may not like?
After all, we were once enemies of God, unbelieving and unrepentant (Colossians 1:21-22). Praise God that Jesus rose, because as believers, we can now follow him in eternal life after physical death! God hates evil, but he still brings many blessings to his enemies (unbelievers) in this life with the goal of bringing these enemies to belief in Jesus.
Does someone come to mind when you read this? What would it look like for you to pray for someone who has wronged you or who is different from you?