Luke 6:27-28 – “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.”

Jesus unveils to us a secret weapon from the arsenal of God, the weapon of love. Love is one of your most effective weapons in reaching the lost world. When Jesus speaks of love, He is not referring to the human emotion of love. He is speaking of supernatural love. Only those who are born again can know this kind of love or display this kind of love. It is impossible for anyone who does not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Anyone can love his friends, but it takes supernatural power to love your enemies. True love means to do good to those who hate you, to bless those who curse you, to pray for those who are nasty to you, and to always turn the other cheek. To feel toward your enemies what you feel toward your friends is the love that comes from God. This is a shockingly simple command to understand, but difficult one to obey. Jesus told us exactly how to love our enemies: do good, bless, and pray for those who spitefully use you. Jesus acknowledged that we will have enemies. This plan of God’s Kingdom considers real-world problems. Yes, we will have enemies, yet we are to respond to them with love, trusting that God will protect our cause and destroy our enemies in the best way possible, by transforming them into our friends.

Challenge:

The love Jesus tells you to have for your enemies is not a warm, fuzzy feeling deep in the heart. If you are waiting for that feeling, you may never love them. The love for your enemies is a love that does something for them, quite apart from how you might feel about them. God has given you the capacity to love others. Do you take advantage of that ability and look for ways to love others? If you are not being loving towards your family and friends, there is no way you will be able to love those who curse you! Your challenge this week is to actively and purposely find at least one way to love on someone. Consider mailing someone a thank you card for just being in your life. Send an email to that old friend to which your relationship has been strained and say you are sorry, asking for their forgiveness. Pray for a difficult co-worker or troubling employee and ask God to meet all their needs. Pass on a blessing in people’s lives and see what kind of impact it will have on them. In doing so, you too will be blessed by the Lord.