The bible commands us to love: “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness (lie),” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13:8-10)
And when Jesus was asked of all the commandments, which one is the most important, He answered: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this; ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 29-31) Wow, there is NO commandment greater than these? There are a lot of commandments (laws), over 600 in the Old Testament, but we are all probably familiar with the Ten Commandments, or at least some of them;
“You shall have no other gods before me,” “You shall not make for yourself an idol,” “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God,” “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy,” “Honor your father and mother,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor (lie),” “You shall not covet.”
According to Jesus, of all these commandments, as well as the 600+, the most Important ones are essentially, love God and love people. Sounds easy right, but we are not just to love our family, friends, and those easy to love, we are to love EVERYONE even the unlovable, i.e. our enemies.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43)
Wow, really? We are to Love our enemies and pray for those who persecute (harm) us? Sounds a little backwards from how the world teaches us to be, but often times Jesus did preach just that, principles and ideas that were backwards from, and went against the views of the world. I guess that is one of the reasons he was not so well liked, by some, and eventually was crucified. But what does it mean to love our enemies? Does it mean we have good “feelings” for them? Does it mean we spend quality time with them? Do we become friends with them (i.e. Frenemies)? Before any of these questions can be answered, first we need to know what love is from a biblical perspective. Let’s take a look at how the Bible defines love, then can we make sense of loving the unlovable.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)
Ok, what does all this mean? What is it saying love is? The world teaches us that love is a “feeling” or “emotion” in our heart, and that is one kind of love, but the kind of love the bible is talking about here, in regards to loving our enemies, all people and God, is not a feeling at all, but an action. Of all the descriptive words for what love is, which ones were feelings? Patience, kindness, protection, trust, hope, perseverance; are any of those a feeling? No, they are actions, not emotions. From the descriptive words that are feelings, or emotions, most are describing what love is NOT as opposed to what love is: envy, pride, quick to anger (hot tempered), delighting in evil.
Now what? How do we apply this to loving ALL people including the enemies in our lives? Well, according to the biblical description of love, it does not involve emotions so much as actions. In essence we can love someone without getting emotionally involved or becoming their friend, or even liking them. We start by being patient with them, showing kindness, being slow to anger, not jumping to judgement (innocent until proven guilty – sound familiar?), persevere (endure negativity without retaliation or revenge).
When someone, including our enemies, are happy we are to rejoice with them, when they mourn, we are to mourn with them. “Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn.” (Romans 12:15). Rejoicing with them doesn’t mean jumping up and down with joy or even hanging out and/or celebrating with them, it just means to be happy for them and not jealous or envious of their good fortune or success. Mourning with someone going through a tough time just means to show compassion for them, even if it’s just in your heart.
This means to put our pride aside and humble ourselves. To not be envious of others, if they have a nicer house, car, job, family, etc., but to be happy for them, that they are doing so well. We can aspire to have nice things too, but not to the extent that we want what they have and desire them to be less fortunate than us or have less than us, feeling that they do not deserve it; that is envy and pride. Also do not boast about how good you have it, looking down on someone who is struggling and/or less fortunate, even if they are not a good person; besides, by God’s perfect standard none of us are good people anyway, “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10).
The only person who walked the earth who was righteous is Jesus. He covers us with HIS righteousness if/when we trust in Him as Lord of our life and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead; if we trust this to be true, then we will have eternal life with Jesus in heaven as opposed to the alternative, eternity without Him in Hell. “If you confess with our mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
In essence, if everyone would show more of this kind of love to one another, the world would be a MUCH better place, almost like heaven on earth. So let’s show more love to each other and less judgement. Let’s make the world a better place for all of us, enemies and all, as we eagerly await the day Jesus comes back and rids the world of sin once and for all.
