Love Enemies

But love your enemies, do good to them and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.  Then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ~ Luke 6:35

We all have those people in life who rub us wrong, who no matter how we might try, we just won’t get along with.  Hot-tempered, selfish, snobbish, someone who holds morals completely opposite our own, someone that may even wish us ill will; these are people we tend to stay away from and can’t imagine being overly kind too.  After all, why would I submit myself to helping someone like that?  Have we forgotten that Christ saved us and showed us his faithful love even as we were sinners?  My God gave His most prized possession for me without knowing if I would even accept his gift and then there is the fact that I will never be able to live a “good enough” life for such a gift.  To be kind to the ungrateful and wicked can only happen with supernatural strength as this act is completely counterintuitive to our human nature.  We are called, as followers of Jesus, to treat ALL people well; even those who are hostile toward us.  We don’t stand out for Christ, and we are not the light to the world we are called to be when we treat our enemies the same way they would treat us.  Instinctively, we usually want to respond to our enemies with the same intensity, anger and defensive attitude that they have, but instead, we are to speak graciously to them and pray for them.  We are called to respond with kindness, to give without expecting anything back and to pray for even those who show wickedness toward us.  This is such a tall order, but we must do what Christ has done for us.  We need to do good to our enemies.  Pray that God will help you with this supernatural task and He will meet you there.  Pray that you will see your enemies as Jesus sees them and help you to treat them as He would. ~ Amen