TID #159 Loving Your Enemies

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TID #159 Loving Your Enemies

What’s up TRC and Friends! Today we get after Jesus’ instructions on how to seek his kingdom and righteousness first by loving our enemies. Ouch!

Jesus’s command to love our enemies is one of the most challenging teachings in Scripture. In Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus directly confronts the common understanding of love and challenges believers to a higher standard.

What Does It Mean to Love Your Enemy?

Here are three practical ways to demonstrate love for enemies:

  1. Greet them and acknowledge them as fellow humans.
  2. Help them when they are in need.
  3. Pray for those enemies who persecute you.

This kind of love goes beyond mere tolerance or civility – it requires actively seeking the good of those who oppose us.

How is Divine Love Different from Human Love?

  1. Human love tends to be reciprocal – we love those who love us back.
  2. Divine love, however, is unconditional and doesn’t depend on the response of others. God demonstrated this by loving and dying for us while we were still His enemies (Romans 5:8).

Why is This Command So Important? Loving our enemies:

  1. Shows we are children of God.
  2. Makes us more like Jesus.
  3. Demonstrates God’s character to others.
  4. Brings freedom from bitterness and emotional/mental burdens.

What About Perfection?

Jesus concludes by commanding us to “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” While we cannot achieve sinless perfection in this life, we are called to pursue it through:

  1. Continual sanctification.
  2. Reliance on the Holy Spirit.
  3. Understanding we are counted righteous through Christ.
  4. Not using grace as an excuse for sin.

Application

This week, identify someone you consider an “enemy”, someone who has opposed or hurt you, or maybe identify someone who considers you an enemy. Challenge yourself to:

  1. Greet them when you see them.
  2. Pray for their wellbeing.
  3. Look for practical ways to show them kindness.

Questions to help you apply:

  1. Who do I struggle to love?
  2. Am I using grace as an excuse not to pursue holiness?
  3. How can I better reflect God’s character in difficult relationships?
  4. What specific steps can I take to love those who oppose me?