Bible Passage: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies…” (Matthew 5:43-44 NIV)
Scripture Reading: Acts 7:54-60
In 1969, The Dave Clark Five produced a sweet cover of the song, “Put a Little Love in Your Heart.” In it, they correctly admonished us to “Put a little love in your heart and the world will be a better place for you and me.”
This is a true statement. The more we love, the better the world around us will be.
But that doesn’t mean it will be easy.
It is a difficult thing to love well, even for those we love most. We can lose our temper. We can be impatient. We can be self-serving and self-centred. Love is hard.
It is even harder to love our enemies.
Jesus, in His famous “Sermon on the Mount,” gives a master class on this subject.
This week, we will focus specifically on Matthew 5:38-48, where Jesus doesn’t shy away from giving us the very challenging command to love our enemies.
Now, maybe you are a man who rightly discerns that you don’t have any “enemies.” If that is the case, you are a fortunate man. But there may have been times when people hurt or betrayed or said things about you that simply weren’t true. These may not be naturally classified as “enemies,” but they can still be very difficult people to love.
For our purposes this week, we are going to define “enemies” in just that way—those people who have wronged us, and/or hurt us, and/or who are very difficult to love.
I think Jesus gave us the command to love our enemies so that it would cover everyone. It covers that person at work who is driving you crazy, that boss who has been treating you poorly, that co-worker who is telling lies, and that teammate who won’t carry their load.
If we are to love our enemies, we are to love those people as well.
Men, we need the love of Christ within us to really love all people the way He wants us to. This week, we will explore how.
Prayer: Dear Lord, I need Your help to love the people in my life. I thank You for all of the ones who are easy to love and who love me in return. But today, I also want to thank You for the people who are hard to love. There are some people whom I don’t feel are worthy of my love. Forgive me for that attitude, and help me to be a man who loves like You. Amen.
Reflection: Who are the people in your life that are difficult to love these days? Who are the people that you would like to avoid? Who are the people who have hurt you? How can Jesus help you today to begin the journey of loving them?
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