"Love OThers"

LOVE OTHERS

Matthew 5:43-48

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’

44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?

47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?

48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

**“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:44-45

When someone hurts you or wrongs you, it’s easy to think of revenge and wanting to “get even.”

Some people have lived a big part of their lives being the victim of someone else’s cruelty. And it can be very hard to let go of that pain.

Loving someone whom we like is easy, but loving someone who has given us every reason not to like them is hard.
Yet Jesus says that if we want to be like him, forgiveness is at the foundation of our Christian Walk.

This is what grace is all about. God loved us so much when we were his enemies that he sent Jesus to renew and restore us to him (John 3:16-17; Romans 5:8-11).

God has every right to reject us—and yet he keeps loving us fully.

What’s more, God asks us to do the same to everyone around us.

Grace is the standard that God sets, and if we as believers accept that grace, we are to live with grace and forgiveness toward all others.

Jesus modeled that we are to love others regardless of nationality, personality, faith, or circumstance.

Jesus challenges us to be the grace differential so that others may know that we too have been loved and forgiven.
Thank God for your grace and His perfect example of loving us.

We just need to trust and lean and depend on Him to help us to be more like you every day and to love everyone with the love of Christ, even/especially when it’s hard. Amen