Matthew 5:43-45 "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."
Some of the things we have heard said seem to make good sense to the natural mind. It seems perfectly logical to love those that are close to us (either spatially or in feeling). We often go through life without giving much thought to people in other states or on other continents. We can easily develop a strong and active dislike for those who we perceive as having wronged us in some way.
The thing that is not so easy for us is to love those that are enemies. They may stand against us physically, morally, socially, or religiously. They may be loud and demeaning. It is impossible for us to react lovingly to those who are our enemies without the grace of Christ.
His love and mercy have been at the root of every “But I say unto you,” that we have read over the past few days. We can love our enemies because that what Jesus expects and enables us to do. We can pray genuinely for those that speak evil against us. We can do good to those that persecutes us because Jesus said we could and should.
Doing these things is not what makes us children of God. Notice in verse forty-five that He was already our Father. Our behavior is the proof of that, not the cause. If our Father knows how to share the rain and the sun with both the just and the unjust, then we need to trust His grace to allow us to do the same.
Finally, dear ones, consider where we would be if Jesus had not practiced exactly what He preached. We were enemies to God in our own conceits. Even Peter cursed and declared that he did not know Jesus. His covenant people mocked Him, spit on Him, and struck Him with their hands, and we would not have done differently except for God’s grace. And then Jesus prayed to the Father while hanging on that cross, “Father, forgive them.” All glory to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost that has shown us such wondrous love as this!