Loving your enemies

"You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 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. ~Matthew 5:43-45

I saw a billboard sign the other day that said “Real Christians Love their Enemies”.  I said amen and kept driving.  I also thought about why it needed the author needed it to read “Real  Christians”?  Why not just Christians?  Perhaps it's because it's getting hard for others to distinguish the believer from the world.  We say we are “good Christians” but what do our actions display? Is love really abounding?

Christians follow Christ and Christ commands us to love.  He didn't say love only those who believe as we do.  He didn't say love only those who look like us, act like us, or dress like us. He didn't say love only those who seek to do good.  He didn't say only love those who are good to us.  No, He said to love our neighbor as ourselves and this includes our enemies.  ( Mathew 5: 43-48). 

When I point fingers, I like to start with myself.  As a follower of Christ, am I making it easy for the world to see the difference? Am I loving my enemy?  Am I working to find common ground with those who think differently from me?  Am I praying for those who have hurt me or seek to do me harm?  Or am I allowing bitterness to fester? Am I looking for justice or a way to justify my need for revenge? Am I extending grace as it has been extended to me? Ouch!

The truth is in this political climate it's a battle.  Sometimes my thinking lapses into the us versus them.  I have to wrestle with these thoughts and bring them into submission( 2 Corinthians 10:5).  I have to transform my thinking ( Romans 12:2).  I have to forget my flesh, take up my cross, and follow Christ daily (Matthew 16:24).

I do not do this in my own strength, but only through His grace.  Father may the world see what it means to follow You in my actions.  Keep me humble and help me not to even see others as my enemies, but rather as my brothers and sisters. Help me to love as You do.  In Jesus name. Amen