Love Your Enemies
Read This Week: Luke 6
But to you who are listening, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them on the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
– Luke 6:27-31 NIV
One of the most difficult things to do in life is express love or care to someone who treats us poorly. It is equally challenging and improbable to love someone we consider an enemy. To deem another person an enemy is a serious thing unto itself. An enemy is antagonistic to another or a hostile, harmful adversary or force. A person who fits that bill would probably not be at the top of the list of people we actively love.
But in Luke 6, Jesus teaches in a way that assumes that anyone who lives for God and proclaims the gospel will have people who do not like them, hate them and are antagonistic toward them. Therefore, the Lord is careful to teach us what we are to do regarding those people in our lives. He says in verses 27-28: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
Jesus’ words imply that not only should a Christian love someone who is antagonistic, hateful, or spiteful toward them, but they should do so actively and expressively with emotions and actions indicative of a Christ-follower. He said in verse 29:
If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.
This turning of the other cheek and giving to someone who steals from us is a difficult principle to absorb and one that seems impossible to do in real-life scenarios. And it is in our strength and volition, but it is not impossible through the power of the Holy Spirit. God can accomplish these miraculous relational tenets in our lives when we are doing life with and close to Him. We can have a heart attitude that responds with positivity when others are negative, generously when others are selfish, and love when others are cruel and unkind.
Jesus said, Do to others as you would have them do to you. This encouragement from the word assumes the best of us spiritually and suggests that we imitate the example of Jesus himself when it comes to His enemies, antagonists, and those who seek to destroy His name. We can do this as well. Vindication and retribution in front of our enemies is not the goal of God’s children. It is the consistent displaying of His character and glory in our daily lives, especially in situations that are beyond us in our strength.
Our current world could use the example of more people who turn the other cheek to aggression, violence, slander, and cruelty and respond to it with humility, grace, kindness, service, and love. This behavior is what the Lord Jesus wants for us always.
Luke 6:27 says, “But I say to you who hear [Me and pay attention to My words]: [h]Love [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for] your enemies, [make it a practice to] do good to those who hate you.”
Everything starts with our love for our Father God. Desiring a heart like Jesus, knowing He has given us His Holy Spirit to help us through everything we go through. Keeping our hearts soft, our minds, from which thoughts and feelings come. God has blessed us so much, so we want to bless others too!
In life, we can let people, painful things that happen to us, harmful behaviors, that we let them turn us away from our faith, go which can make it all the more difficult to turn back to God. But it’s possible for Father God to soften your heart. Everyday is a new day with Jesus.
Everyone’s journey is different, all it takes for everyone is to have an open heart, to hear what Jesus is saying through the bible. Pay attention to what He is saying, when God draws your attention to a verse write it down, ask Him what He is saying to you, keep asking, when you hear something and He is showing you a new way to respond do it with Him.
Remember we’re always practicing, if we don’t get it right the first time, do it again, and keep practicing. When you get it down there will always be something in this life that we will be practicing, so have fun. And treat others the way you want to be treated.
I really appreciate this post so much, Heidi. I know you are sharing with so many people but I feel like you were speaking directly to my heart. I needed to hear this truth, especially these lines:
In life, we can let people, painful things that happen to us, harmful behaviors, that we let them turn us away from our faith, go which can make it all the more difficult to turn back to God. But it’s possible for Father God to soften your heart. Every day is a new day with Jesus.
It is so easy to focus on the harmful behaviors and things that are done to us that bring pain and heartache. But focusing on them takes our focus away from Christ and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, it takes our attention away from healing and blessing others. Thank you for this challenge to stay focused on the Lord and to allow Him to keep our hearts soft and receptive to Him and to the command to forgive and love other people.
This is what I got from God in Luke 6. I want you to be poor in spirit, for you will receive from Me, what you need. You must rely on My power. I want you to hunger and thirst after My Son, Jesus and His righteousness. You will be filled and long for more. When you mourn, it is godly sorrow that produces repentance to salvation. I will give you hope. Sin will separate you from Me.
As a Christian, you will be persecuted, but your reward will be in heaven. If you are poor, hungry, and need comfort, you will come to Jesus, who takes care of all your needs. Though you will have enemies, you are to respond to them with love, as Jesus did. “You are to overcome evil with good.” When you give to others, I will give you more. What is hateful to you, do not do to anyone else. You are to love and reach out to others. Love your enemies and bless them when you can. If you are My child, My spirit dwells within you. You should be merciful to others, the way that I am to you.
You are not to judge others. I am the judge. When you are judging others, you are ignoring the standard in your own life. You are to show unconditional love, but you are not called to unconditional approval. You can really love others without approving what they are doing. You really can’t give too much. You can’t out-give Me. I will return more to you. You are to be generous with love, forgiveness, and goodness to others. Make Jesus your leader and your teacher. As you are taught by Him, and grow in Him, you will become more like Him. Your fruit is the result of who you are. Don’t just hear My word, but be a doer of My word.
What this said to me as I am to remember my sins separate me from God. I need to repent and turn away from them. I am to trust God with all my needs, and not depend on myself. I am to treat others as I want to be treated, show mercy and not judge. I need to let Jesus be my teacher and leader. I want to bear good fruit and grow in Him.
Wonderful commentary as always, Kathy. I really like the approach God gave you to love our enemies and to judge others. These are some of the great challenges of the Christian life but not impossible with the help of the Holy Spirit. This part really stood out to me:
You are not to judge others. I am the judge. When you are judging others, you are ignoring the standard in your own life.
One of the hazards of judging others unfairly or self-righteously is that it causes us to miss or be blinded by the shortcomings and issues we have in our own lives. As you said, we fail to acknowledge the standard that God has set for all of us. Allowing God to be the standard and judge leads to humility and recognizance of where we fall short.
This week in Luke 6, God gave me a song called “Blessed”:
We are blessed, blessed, blessed
Our Lord is our salvation
His love is forever
Let’s rejoice, rejoice, be glad in the Lord and leap for joy
Our reward is rich, great, strong, and abundant in heaven
We are blessed, blessed, blessed
Our Father loves, forgives, and encourages
Let’s sing together
We are blessed, loved, and inspired by our sweet Heavenly Father
We are blessed, loved, and inspired by our sweet Heavenly Father. Amen.
I love that we have such an awesome God. He’s always cheering for us. His love for us is overwhelming. Thank you, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
This is such a hopeful song, Alma. I needed its message today. This is the part that I keep going back to and that keeps blessing me:
We are blessed, blessed, blessed
Our Father loves, forgives, and encourages
Let’s sing together
One can’t help but sing and worship God when we realize how blessed we are that He is our Father and that He blesses us with His love, forgiveness, and encouragement.
My comment comes from Luke 6 verse 40: A pupil is not superior to his teacher, but everyone [when he is] completely trained (readjusted, restored, set to rights, and perfected) will be like his teacher.
We are all a work in progress. No one is superior to others. We may learn and experience life at different rates but in the end, with Jesus and an open, we are all perfected in and through Christ to be his equal. I am blessed to have the divine opportunity to love others as Christ loves me. Christ said this journey is not always easy but with Him, we walk with Him to perfection.
Thank you Jesus for always being my teacher.
Trina, thank you so much for sharing on the AWITL Blog. It means a lot for you to take the time to speak the words that God gave you to us. I appreciated your post very much. These were my favorite lines:
We are all a work in progress. No one is superior to others… I am blessed to have the divine opportunity to love others as Christ loves me.
In these statements, you show the essence of what it means to be a Christian, a sinner saved by grace who is not superior to anyone but has the privilege through Christ to love others as He has loved us. Your post encapsulates a heart of gratitude and understanding.