Love of God!

“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Matthew 5:44

We live in a world where we cannot be totally accepted. No matter how good or moderate you could be, there will always be people who will hate you and stand as your enemy. As Christians, taking criticism is inevitable because the world is against the Word we speak.

While Jesus was preaching on the mountain, He instructed the people on living in this world as a Christian. He instructed that we should love our enemies, bless people who curse us, do good to people who hurt us, and pray for people who don’t even care about us. Jesus was aware that He wasn’t generally accepted neither was His followers and listeners were free from having enemies.

In John 15:18, Jesus said, “If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first.”

Jesus was not saying mere words here or what is impossible, though it might seem difficult for us as humans. However, Jesus did all of these things to prove to us that it is possible to love people irrespective of their bad intentions for us, which is called the Love of God. This is the reality of the love of God that we may prove that we are true sons of God. Until we can freely express these things, we haven’t totally given ourselves to God.

Jesus loves the world so much that even when the person He was dying for was hurting Him, He never stopped paying the sacrifice. Not loving your enemies doesn’t increase your strength or gives you a special honor, loving people and showing them how much Jesus cares about them is simply a great step of wisdom. Luke 6:27 says, “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.”

Prayer:
1. Lord, help me to express your love to everyone in this world.
2. Proverbs 19:11 – Oh Lord, give me an insight that produces patience and overlooks others’ offense in Jesus’ name.