Love Those God Loves!
You have heard that it was said,
“You shall love your neighbor and
hate your enemy.” But I say to you,
love your enemies.
Matthew 5:
43-44
A majority of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount
(Matthew 5–7) concerns correcting the false
teaching that had crept into Jewish religious
practice.
For example, in Matthew 5, Jesus said,
“You have heard. . . . But I say to you”
(verses 21-22, 27-28, 31-32, 33-34, 38-39,
43-44). One of six corrections concerned
how to respond to
enemies, those who
persecute you.
In Leviticus 19:18, Moses wrote that Jews were
to love their neighbor. But the Jewish religious
leaders in Jesus’ day add “and hate your enemy”
(Matthew 5:43). Jesus corrected the false tradition
by telling His audience that they should love their
neighbor and their enemy. Why?
Because God extends His grace, the blessings of
nature, to the righteous and the unrighteous alike.
And He said that there is no reward in loving only
those who love you. Loving one’s enemy is harder
than loving those who love you. We are to imitate
God by loving those He loves (Matthew 5:48).
Thank God today that, even when we were
His enemies, He sent His Son so that we
are reconciled to Him (Romans
5:10).
"Worst of all my foes,
I fear the enemy within."
John Wesley