Choosing Love

Bible Reading: Matthew 5:43–48

But I tell you, love your enemies 

and pray for those who persecute you.

Matthew 5:44

Few teachings of Jesus reveal the radical nature of true discipleship more clearly than His command, “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44). Loving those who love us comes naturally; Jesus asks, “Do not even the tax collectors do that?” (v. 46). Barclay explains that the word Jesus uses for love, agapē, does not mean that we must feel the same affection for an enemy that we feel for family or close friends. Rather, it describes an unconquerable goodwill—a deliberate determination to seek another person’s good regardless of how that person treats us. Christian love therefore involves the will as well as the heart. It says, Whatever you have done to me, I will not allow bitterness to control me. Paul expresses the same principle: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).

But loving someone does not mean approving everything that person does. C. S. Lewis once struggled with the Christian distinction between hating wrongdoing and refusing to hate the wrongdoer. Then he realized he had been doing exactly that toward himself throughout his life. He could strongly dislike his own cowardice, conceit, or greed while continuing to love himself; indeed, because he cared about himself, he wanted those things changed. Lewis’s insight echoes an ancient Christian principle associated with Augustine: love the person while opposing the sin. This helps us understand enemy-love. We can condemn injustice, establish necessary boundaries, and oppose wrongdoing while refusing to desire another person’s destruction. Jesus gives us a practical way to begin: “Pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). He demonstrated it from the cross: “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34). Prayer may not immediately change the person who hurt us, but God can use it to change what is happening within us.

Jesus gives the deepest reason for loving this way: it makes us more like our heavenly Father. God sends sunlight and rain upon both the righteous and unrighteous (Matthew 5:45). Jesus therefore concludes, “Be perfect… as your heavenly Father is perfect” (v. 48). Barclay notes that teleios, translated “perfect,” carries the idea of maturity or completeness—fulfilling the purpose for which we were created. We were made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26), and true discipleship increasingly restores that family resemblance. Yet such love cannot be manufactured by determination alone: “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5). May the power of His Spirit grant us wisdom to distinguish the wrong from the wrongdoer, courage to surrender revenge, and strength to pray for those difficult to love. As we learn to love as our Father loves, may others see something of Jesus in us.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, 

Teach us to love as You love. By Your Spirit, give us wisdom to recognize what is wrong without hatred, courage to forgive, and strength to pray for those who hurt us. Make us more like Jesus. 

Amen.