You knew this was coming, kid. We gotta talk about love for the people we may not “want” to love.
We know we are supposed to love our enemies and the Bible does tell us why. It’s a standard thing: God loves us all, and we should as well.
As I have said, love is a choice…perhaps more than a feeling. We surely don’t feel like loving the “bad guys”, but here we are. Jesus calls us on it too. Matthew 5:43-48. In there, He asks us two questions. 1: If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? 2: And if you greet only your people, what are you doing more than others? He compares us doing that to tax collectors and pagans. Yikes.
Jesus then tells us to have perfect love.
Let’s talk about something though. It would appear that God holds more value in loving people who are so called not easy to love versus loving people who are so called easy to love.
This is a long sermon by my standards, but this is a very important message. Let’s take a listen:
The last couple of minutes were big for me. Sometimes, when we do something that the Bible tells us, there’s a reason for it. It’s for our benefit or it’s for someone else. But, sometimes, we forget that we do these things because God says so.
That’s the reality with all commandments. God said so, so, technically, that’s enough. But, it sometimes isn’t, and we have to tell ourselves that we win in the end by getting a reward.
Is that the only reason why we follow God’s commands? For the rewards? And, if they are not what we want, then we decide not to be a follower for the day?
We need to be real here: God’s commands should be taken seriously. It’s a happy coincidence in some cases that we get a little “prize” in the end. Technically, if God says it, then that’s it.
Loving our enemies is one of the hardest things to do. But the key word is “love” God is love. By that definition, the Holy Spirit is love. And, the Holy Spirit lives in His children. He produces fruit; one of them: Love. And so, as we are alive by the spirit of God, we produce this fruit. So, God’s kids are love. I’m not going to dive into the trinity and all of that. I’ve done that before. Let’s keep things on topic.
That’s why we’re told to love. It’s not only a “feeling”, but it’s what we are. We must do what we are designed to do. Love. Obviously, it’s easier to love people that show love. But, again, love isn’t a feeling. Not just a feeling, anyway. True love puts aside feelings and continues on. If love were based on feeling, we’d be screwed. God loves us unconditionally, but what if He only loved us when we didn’t sin? I guess we’d be doomed from the door.
That’s what loving is all about. Yourself. Your neighbor. Your enemy. Everybody.
