Many people think that when the Bible says “love your neighbor” it means we are supposed to love our family, friends, acquaintances, and maybe a few strangers along the way. God calls us to love Him above all else and love our neighbors as ourselves. May we bring God with us everywhere we walk and that His Name be glorified.As Christians, our highest calling is to love. My sincere prayer is that we may seek God’s perfect wisdom and put it into practice in our daily lives. I pray and hope this short reflection may bless you this day. Because if we don’t honor Him in these, we will make anger, pride, and hurt our idols. Whether something unkind was said or done to us intentionally or not, we must glorify God with our thoughts, words, and actions especially when it’s difficult. We don’t automatically see our families and friends as enemies but our thoughts and our feelings toward them defines how our hearts view them. And we cannot bring Him into a hurting moment by responding with anger. Our goal as Christians is to bring Christ to every place and every circumstance. But our reactions to these situations should reflect Christ. This is part of being a human in this world. Our families are loving and caring most of the time for most of us, but sometimes, things will be said or done that will hurt and anger us. We never have a right to be unkind, NEVER. Why? Because God who is above all has loved us and shown mercy when we did not deserve it. Human logic will ask why we should be loving and kind to those who have been uncaring. Do not let wrath poison your heart and make those whom you love, your enemies. Your mom was sarcastic about your career plans? Love her. Your sister likes to mess with you to make you angry? Love her. Now, that should motivate us to act in love! But the last part is worth more than our selfish pride And You Will Be Sons of the Most High. Notice those last verses mentioned above. Not only should we fight this for the sake of obeying but because with obedience comes peace. But God’s wisdom should move us to fight the human instinct of wanting to defend ourselves. It’s very easy to be controlled by anger and respond to offensive remarks with vindication. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:27-36, ESV) But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. God’s instruction to us as His children is to love our enemies: The question at hand is should we allow ourselves to create enemies? We do not have control over those who see us as enemies but we do have control over who we let our hearts view as enemies. But God showed me that when we react with defensive anger toward someone, they have become our enemies in our hearts. We have the propensity to associate an enemy with those who hate us and or oppose us. The question remained did I truly know how to love my enemies? In light of Scripture, had I ever truly loved without reservations? And how many times had I been an enemy to a friend? Because if the way I reacted to situations changed my relationships in the eyes of God then, everyone I knew had been my enemy at some point. His revelation completely challenged my views on enemies, love, relationships, and anger. However, almost immediately, the voice of the LORD spoke to my heart that moment saying, “Every time you get offended by something someone says to you, and you react in defensiveness, they are your enemies at the moment.” What enemies were there to love when I had none? I can almost remember the feeling of contentment I felt at this thought. I was pondering all this as I read Matthew 5. So, based on these claims, that could only mean that I had no enemies. I did not hate anyone, had in fact, never hated anyone in my life. I was convinced without a shadow of a doubt that I had no enemies.
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