"Children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth." 1 John 3:18 [NASB]
While there is no doubt the majority of what Jesus said while on earth to the religious leaders of the day--the Pharisees & scribes, etc.--were radically bold statements of truth, the Sermon on the Mount recorded in the book of Matthew is unquestionably one of the most radically profound teachings Jesus gave during his ministry on earth. It practically shred to pieces most of the law that the Jews, His own people, held so highly, and in turn exposed all mankind to the true heart of God behind His law.
Perhaps one of the most challenging of the commands given that day by Jesus can be found in Matthew 5:44...
"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you..."
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you...???
Wow, what a concept. That is not the way we--meaning human beings, myself included--instinctively react to people who hate us or are mean to us. But that's what Jesus asks us to do. Jesus asks us to put aside our own feelings and reach out in love toward those who persecute us, despise us and do all kinds of evil against us.
[NASB] Matthew 5:7, 9-12 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. (9) Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." ~ Jesus
To try to explain the kind of love Jesus is speaking of, here is an excerpt from an online devotional written by Michael Lane of Delve Christian Ministries...
"The love of which Jesus speaks is not a feeling in any sense of the word. It is a decision resulting in action. It is a choice you make that has nothing whatsoever to do with how you feel, and quite often, occurs in spite of a feeling to the contrary. This kind of love judges the needs of a person but never the person themselves, and responds according to the gravity of the need, never the character of the person.
Understand that you must absolutely restrain whatever you
feel for a person and treat them with as much compassion and kindness as
you would show your own mother or child. This is the kind of love that
Christ demands – not a feeling, but rather a spirit of service,
selflessness and humility. It is the ability to give to others with no
regard to what they can do to repay you, what they feel for you or what
you feel for them.
It is, in fact the
greatest kind of love. It is the kind of love that God demonstrated when
He saved us while we were His enemies."
[TNIV] Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
This kind of love, this decision to take action and reach out in love to those who hate us or hurt us or break our hearts, is far from the effortless acts of love we demonstrate toward our spouses and families. It is a much more difficult and deliberate act of love.
One I know for a fact is impossible for us humans without the love of Christ in our own hearts. Only once we have come to realize & begin to understand just how much our Father in heaven loves us are we capable of having and practicing that same kind of love toward our enemies.
I say this boldly because I personally know this to be true from my own life experiences. For the past 4 years I have had to deal with someone I once considered my enemy on practically a daily basis. My days hardly went by without an interruption or intrusion from this person which I thought, and was on occasion, absolutely unnecessary and a total nuisance. My "BC Jami heart" had grown cold and my mind was filled w/evil thoughts of this person which reminded me just how much I could NOT stand them every time they did something I thought wasn't right. I had even tried many times to explain my position to them, to no avail, which only led to fierce fighting between us. Neither one of us would listen to the other.
Even after I became a Christ Follower my heart did not immediately look at this person from a different point of view. Only after having a conversation over lunch with a long time friend, who also lives in a similar situation, did I see where I was in the wrong. I believe my Lord used this friend of mine, one who is not even a fellow sister in Christ yet, strategically to show me that I was not acting like the child of God I had become in this particular relationship.
On the way home from lunch with my friend I was replaying everything she had said, everything we had talked about in my mind when suddenly it dawned on me. I could no longer treat this person who I had considered my enemy for years as if I hated them. The Holy Spirit convicted me right then and there of my horribly unloving, selfish, prideful and sinful behavior towards this person in my life. I prayed that day that the Spirit would bring me peace about this relationship and help guide me and teach me how I was supposed to treat this person regardless of how they treated me. I surrendered my own will on the issue to the will of my Lord Jesus Christ and begged Him to help me to treat this person the way He would no matter what they did or said.
[NASB] Philippians 4:6-7 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
A genuine prayer is a powerful thing my friends. Since that day I have not felt hatred or contempt or even mild dislike towards this person that I once considered my enemy. My Lord has given me His Perfect Peace in this relationship and in doing so He has made me able to feel compassion for this person and their struggles. Because of my Lord and His love for me, I am now able to see when this person has a need that I can help them meet and I am compelled to respond by the Spirit within me! I am now able to practice the principle of loving my enemy by reaching out with the love of Christ and offering my help to them when they need it. Because of all this I now have a healthy relationship with the mother of my step-son and things that I never thought would be possible, like all of us going to J's birthday parties and sitting with her at his soccer games, and having her over to our home for a holiday, etc., have become a reality! Praise the LORD!!!!!
Now nobody misunderstand me, please. We by no means have a perfect relationship. Our situation is far from ideal and more complex than I would like...but you cannot love someone unless you are able to accept them for who they are, faults and baggage included, and before I met my husband this woman had his son. There is nothing I can do to change that. The only thing I can do is choose to accept that she will be a part of my life as long as he is a part of my life, or not. I knew that before I married my husband, and still I chose to walk down the aisle.
Choosing to love my husband meant loving his son as well--which I do more than I ever thought possible--but it also meant learning to treat the mother of his son with love and respect. As a Christ follower I also had to learn how to treat her in a way that honors my Lord and Savior who went to the cross and sacrificed His perfect and blameless life for mine and everyone else's who was God, His Father's enemy.
"This kind of love can be
hard and uncomfortable, but it is the most important love of all, for it is
by this kind of love that others will know that Christ lives in you." ~Michael Lane, Delve Christian Ministries
Only the One who gave us the example of what love is, is qualified to teach us how to love our enemies. I will forever be grateful that He knew how to love those who persecuted and despised Him, who treated Him with contempt and disregarded Him and said all kinds of evil against Him.
[NASB] Luke 6:27-36 “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. 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 Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." ~ Jesus
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