But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. (Matt. 5:44)
No one said this would be easy, but it is being God’s ambassador when we do love. How will they know who Jesus is unless we imitate Him? Did He not say, be ye holy as I am holy, and that He is the Light of the world? A light needs to shine in dark places in order to be seen. God loved us while we were yet sinners, so it is our calling as well, to love others as He loves us. When you love your enemy, you also open the door for forgiveness which shuts the door on the devil and shows the witness of Christ. We need to show God’s love and how it has transformed us into who we are and who we are becoming.
Jesus summed up all the commandments into two. Love God with all your heart, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. If you truly love God, His love through you will cause you to love unconditionally. It is so easy to love the beautiful, happy, and kind people that love us back. What is difficult is to love those that are deemed unlovable. Those who everyone hates because of what they look like or how they act or their position in life. If you allow the love of God to flow through you, then what we see as we love does not even enter into the equation. Love knows no boundaries. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in truth. It always protects, hopes, trusts and preserves. (1 Cor. 13:4)
When we look at God’s word and see what love truly is, we find out that most of us are not truly loving each other. The prayer we need to pray is that God’s love would be matured or perfected in us. Even when we fail to love, He still loves us. That’s unconditional love. Make an effort today to start to love without conditions and ask God for His love to love through you.
Loving our enemies does not mean that we allow or give them permission to abuse or hurt us. Loving our enemy means that we will speak truth concerning Jesus in kindness. Many people confuse love with acceptance or tolerance. Jesus loved the woman caught in adultery but He did not approve of or tolerate her sin. The modern Church has traded in true love for a sloppy counterfeit that allows all and every behavior under the guise of “love”. While love is patient, kind and long suffering; it is not accepting of sin or tolerant to deviant anti Christ ways. True love can only be administered by the Holy Spirit through us, not of ourselves in our humanity. We can offer philos love or eros love, but it takes God in us to express agape love. It is by Him that we (agape) love!
The Teaching Ministry of Michael Cannatello
TMMC
