Love Your Enemies

Love your enemies - bless, pray, reflect the Father who sends rain on just and unjust alike.

Key Concept

“You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.Matthew 5:43-48 NASB1995

• Bless and pray for persecutors - the Father sends sun and rain on just and unjust; I copy that kindness.
• Level 1: Pray for people who hurt you - like God sending rain on good gardens and weed patches alike, and you can copy that kindness.
• Level 2: Bless persecutors because the Father treats just and unjust alike - sun and rain on both, and you copy that pattern.
• Level 3: Enemy-love means prayer and blessing for people who hurt you - not agreement, not pretending the harm did not happen.
• Level 4: When someone slanders you, pray before you reply - ordinary love loves those who love back; divine-shaped love blesses the persecutor.
• Level 5: The Father's Free Grace toward the unjust is the pattern - Turn the Other Cheek handles personal insult; enemy-love handles sustained opposition without retaliation dressed as justice.
• Loving only people who love you back is ordinary; loving enemies is divine-shaped.
• Prayer and blessing are the practical handles - not agreement, not pretending harm did not happen.
• The Father's free grace toward the unjust is the pattern: I love enemies because God loved me first.

Examples

• Someone slandered me in a group chat and my thumb hovered over a reply - I prayed for them, not because they deserve it, because that is what the Father does with people like me.
• My neighbor's honking got under my skin and I almost left a nasty note - I baked cookies instead and asked if everything was okay.

Note Relationships