Radical Love: Loving Your Enemies

Intuitively, it may never have crossed your mind to love someone who has hurt you, insulted you, humiliated you, or even made you suffer, namely your enemy. What is more, if that person has spoken badly of you or said things about you that are not true. Surely you would feel angry, annoyed, and perhaps hate them.

It is easier to love people who love you, who have been a blessing in your life, or someone who is so pleasing. Yet, loving your enemies is Jesus' command that we must apply in everyday life. Why is that, and how do we do it?

Not a Standard Kind of Love

“But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend expecting nothing in return; then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High God, for He is kind to the ungrateful and to the wicked.” – Luke 6:35 

The love that Jesus taught is not a standard kind of love, like the one taught by the world. In the world, the law of cause and effect applies: “If you are good to me, I will also be good to you. But if you are evil, I can also be evil to you!”

I used to think that the statement above was something called justice. If you do evil, you will receive bad treatment. On the other hand, if you do good to others, you too will receive good treatment from them.

However, the love that Jesus taught is not merely love for family, the people closest to you, and your friends alone. He also wants you to have the love that He has, which is kind to those who are ungrateful, and even to those who are evil toward you.

As a believer, you have only one choice in how you respond to your enemies. Loving your enemies is God's standard of love. For that reason, we need to understand how high that standard is and how to apply it.

Loving Your Enemies, the Highest Level of Love

Then Peter came and said to Jesus: “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother if he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him: "No! I tell you: not up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. – Matthew 18:21-22

One time, Peter, who may have been annoyed with someone or another disciple, asked Jesus: Was it enough to forgive someone only seven times? Perhaps he thought seven was a perfect number. Jesus' answer was truly unexpected. He told Peter not merely seven times to forgive, but seventy times seven … which means without limit!

To love our enemies, we need self-denial, sacrifice, and an attitude of not putting our own interests first. We must also do this actively, namely by doing good things for people who do not treat you well. - “But to you who are listening, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you.” – Luke 6:27-28 

What can you do to love your enemies?

• Keep doing good to them. Keep greeting them when you meet, keep honoring them.
• Bless those who revile you; do not answer them with reviling as well. If someone attacks you through words, respond with kind words and polite ones. Do not be provoked by what they say. Ask God to bless their life and help them so that they Let There Be No “Assumptions” Between Usmay understand the truth.
• Pray for them so that they can change. Pray also for your own heart, so that it will not hold grudges and hatred, but instead, have compassion for that person.

Jesus did not merely give commands without doing Himself what He commanded. In the Garden of Gethsemane, when Judas came with a crowd of armed men to arrest Jesus, He still called Judas a friend (Matthew 26:50). 

Let us follow the radical love that Jesus has shown as an example. And let us strive to keep that love in our daily lives! You surely can!

Related Articles:

• Let There Be No “Assumptions” Between Us
• Loving People Who Hurt Us, Is It Possible?
• The Difficulty of Forgiving Those Closest to Us
• Growing in Balance as an Introvert
• It’s All About Love! The Definition of Love According to the Bible

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