Love your enemies

Love your enemies

Scripture:-

           

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:43-48

Observation:

Continuing with His very radical teaching, our Lord now goes on to declare that loving those who love you is easy enough, but we who follow Him are to do still even better, to even love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Human nature naturally wants to retaliate and hit back at those who hurt us. Even the law “an eye for an eye” is already a law of mercy for naturally, we want to hurt our antagonists even more than they have hurt us. However, our Lord Jesus teaches us to do the very opposite, to love our enemies, to pray for them. The Lord explains that since our Father in Heaven shows favor on both the evil and the good, granting mankind sunshine and rain whether they deserve it or not, we too should do likewise

Corrie Ten Boom was faced with great practical difficulty when the prison guard who had tortured her and her family came to her to ask for forgiveness. She found it very hard to so, but eventually yielded to the Lord and forgave with tears her one time tormentor. Forgiving and loving your enemy is not easy, even impossible from a human point of view. However, with God all things are possible, and it is for us to let go, and let God do His work in us.

How can we be perfect? Only when we let our old selves recede and let Jesus come alive in us!

Application:

Even now, many of us have enemies we find very hard to forgive, what more to love. Let us bring our feelings of anger and bitterness to the Lord concerning those individuals that have hurt us. Ask God to teach us how to let go, and let Him heal our pains. Only in forgiveness is there sweet release and freedom.

Prayer:

Praise You, Heavenly Father for the wisdom of Your teachings which You showed us through Your Son. Help me Father, for there are some I really have difficulty forgiving. I open my heart to You O Lord. Do Your work in me. I release my pain to You O Lord. I receive Your healing and Your forgiveness. I reciprocate Your forgiveness O Lord by forgiving the ones who hurt me. I release them in Jesus name. I pray for their salvation and their healing in Jesus name. I pray for reconciliation in Jesus name. Blessed be Your name O Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.