“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.”
(Some more thoughts I wrote in my journal earlier - these are a little bit more together, though).
It kind of goes with what I was just talking about [see previous post], and I honestly love this verse. I think it’s so powerful - to be able to treat someone who’s hurt you like you’d treat a loved one, and to do it out of the right heart. It’s amazing to think that Jesus does this - all the people who disregard Him, hate Him, blasphemy Him - He loves them just as much as He loves me. He died for them, too. So like Matthew 5:48 says:
“Therefore you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
We are to love like He loves.
I’ve made myself do the latter of verse 44 - pray for my enemies, essentially. It is the hardest, yet most humbling thing. And it feels good - not in a self-righteous sort of way, but to let the love of God flow through me…you really feel it in those moments where you pray for someone you really don’t even want to think about.
And it’s so hard to hate them when you’ve prayed for them - to soften your heart towards someone like that just gets rid of a lot of bitterness. It makes things better as a whole.
I think the concept really just kind of leaves m in awe, though - treating my enemies like I would my mom or my best friend. That is so powerful. That is love. It’s the love that we’re call to, like in Matthew 4:46:
“For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do that same?”
It’s great to love your friends and family and really nice people, of course, but it’s not that impressive. To be able to show love to the people you don’t want to - that’s something. It’s hard, of course, and really takes the help of Jesus, but I think it all starts with the right mindset. At least know you are supposed to love these people, too, and accept that. I think that’s a good first step to making it this love easier, instead of just succumbing to bitterness and the way of the world that says you’re allowed to hold a grudge. But it’s not what you’re justified in doing - it’s about striving to be as much like Jesus as we possibly can. That’s how life is supposed to be lived, and I think it makes such a difference.
In my experience, when it comes down to it, it feels better to let go of pride and hold on to love rather than let bitterness and hate consume you. Nothing eats away at you like holding a grudge or even just harboring the slightest bit of disdain towards someone. When I let that go, I feel so much lighter inside. I can feel Jesus’s for me more (not that His love ever changes - I just can experience it better), and it’s a great thing to be able to just smile at the person who’s hurt you - or even at just a generally nasty person.
Love changes the world, man. We just gotta give ourselves fully into it. Let it transform us, then our relationships, and then I know we’ll see a real difference.
My goal for the week (and, well, life): Work on being selfless - naturally selfless through Jesus, so I’ll have the right heart behind it and not even view it as a sacrifice, because I know I have my real treasure in heaven. And then to love to the best of my abilities, especially those who are hard to love. It doesn’t mean I have to think they’re great - just treat them like they are.
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