“But I say to you who
hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse
you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer
the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your
tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away
your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to
you, do so to them” (Luke 6:27-31).
Jesus’ mastery as a teacher is revealed here. He
had just challenged His disciples to examine their hearts and to replace any
love for the world with a consuming love for Christ and His kingdom. Jesus
taught that the blessings of kingdom life were available to those true
disciples that would let love rule their hearts when He told the scribe who
rightly discerned that the greatest commandment was to love God with the whole
heart, “You are not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34). The Holy Spirit reinforced the rule of love in
the hearts of true disciples through the pen the Apostle Paul… “Let all
that you do be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:14). Now, with an
exhortation to “Love your enemies” Jesus leads us to a deeper
appreciation and understanding of the way of God’s love.
The way of God’s love is to “do good to
those who hate you”. It’s easy to love those who love us back. But God’s
love is a heart-transforming force. God defines love as giving Himself to meet
our greatest need… “God shows his love for us in that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God showed His love
through Christ on the cross to His greatest enemies, those who hate Him most, the
ungodly… “Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). He
wants to reveal the power of His love to an ungodly and needy world through us,
His disciples. That’s why He commands us to love those who hate us by intentionally
pouring good into their lives in love. As we meet the emotional and physical
needs of our enemies, their minds will be transformed… “To the contrary, ‘if
your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink;
for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by
evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:20-21). Their hearts will
be changed toward us, and we can introduce them to the One who is the
motivation behind our love… “We love because he first loved us” (1
John 4:19).
The way of God’s love is to “bless those
who curse you”. The Greek word translated bless here is eulogeō,
and it means to speak well of, to invoke a benediction on, or to prosper.
The Greek word translated curse here is kataraomai, and it
means to condemn, denounce, or damn. It certainly is not natural to
return a blessing for a curse, but the Spirit exhorts us to do just that
through the pen of the Apostle Peter… “Do not repay evil for evil or
reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called,
that you may obtain a blessing” (1 Peter 3:9). The Spirit clearly
implies a blessing for earnest disciples who desire to bless those who curse
them. The greatest blessing is the evidence of the Spirit’s fullness in us,
empowering us to do that which is unnatural, imitating Jesus by blessing our
enemies… “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered
for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps” (1
Peter 2:21).
The way of God’s love is to “pray for
those who abuse you”. This may be the most difficult commandment of the
day. The natural response to those who are abusing, harming, and taking
advantage of us is self-defense. We are wired to protect and preserve
ourselves. Jesus elaborated on this commandment… “To one who strikes you
on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not
withhold your tunic either”. He knows it will take a strong connection
to God for us to overcome the natural tendency of self-defense, so He tells us
to pray. We note that He does not tell us to pray for ourselves, but to “pray
for those who abuse you”. When we obey this instruction we take our
eyes off of self and are able to begin to see our enemies through God’s eyes.
His Spirit will help us see into their heart and empower us to love them like
Jesus does… “These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For
the Spirit searches everything” (1 Corinthians 2:10).
As we grow up into Christ our love for our
enemies increases as we learn more about…
The Way of God’s Love.
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