Scripture — Matthew 5:43-48

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, 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 5:43-44)

This is the hardest command I know. Love my enemies?

Yet this truly is Jesus’ command for you and me. It gets to the heart of the good news of Jesus. It shows that God’s love in Christ undermines our naturally sinful and broken way of life.

An enemy is, by definition, someone we hate. Christ overthrows this by replacing our natural hatred with his supernatural love.

We cannot possess such love without Christ. I can’t. You can’t. On my own, I will keep on hating people who have hurt me, or whom I think are despicable. I do not have the capacity to love my enemies, but Christ does.

In Romans, Paul writes that “when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10). This verse is a short summary of salvation in Christ. We were once the enemies of God, but Christ reconciled us to God, so now we are friends.

Christ reconciled an entire world full of enemies to God. So, He can surely handle the reconciliation needed between my enemies and me. But I will have to ask Him for that super­natural love. It will take a prayer something like this:

Prayer: O God, in my own strength I cannot forgive or love my enemies. Give me the love that Jesus showed by dying to pay for my sin when I was your enemy. And help me to reconcile with my enemies for Jesus’ sake. Amen.