“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).
Christ’s command has deeply impressed my mind and heart. To fully understand the character of God and His law, we must apply Christ’s admonition to love your enemies. Many people can give hate for hate or even love for love, but only the Spirit that comes from God can give love from hatred. Christ tells us to love, bless, do good and pray for people that hate, despise and persecute us! It may be easy to say but very difficult to do. Yet loving our enemy is Christ’s admonition to us.
Many people feel that if we love our enemies, they would take advantage of us. They may hurt us again; or, they may say we are in fact in the wrong. We may not want to forgive those who have wronged us, because we want to teach them a lesson, or we want to punish them for their wrongdoing. If we follow these reasonings, we would live in uncertainty, and carry a heavy burden for ourselves. Christ tells us to love and pray for our enemies, whatever may be the outcome. We love them and leave the results to God. Be kind to the unthankful and evil. Do good towards them and expect nothing in return (Luke 6:35).
Jesus paid the high price of His own blood to redeem each one of us, including the unthankful and unholy. If Christ died to save each sinner, shouldn’t we love those whom He came to save? Titus 3:3-5 says, kindness and love of God come not because of what we have done, but according to His great mercy. Christ’s love for us will make us kind and loving to those who are loving to us, as well as those who are the most erring and sinful.
The sun shines upon both the good and the evil. Christ sends His blessings down on both the holy and the unholy. Remember we ourselves are sinners and have wronged others in the past. We often have to ask forgiveness from God for our shortcomings. Loving kindness can draw sinners to repentance. Many hardened hearts would be softened by kindness and sympathy. Many more people would be converted to the truth than we see now if could love our enemies.
Cynthia Ly Lan Nguyen
