Matthew 5:43-47 You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy; But I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, To show that you are the children of your Father Who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and makes the rain fall upon the upright and the wrongdoers [alike] For if you love those who love you, what reward can you have? Do not even the tax collectors do that? And if you greet only your brethren, what more than others are you doing? Do not even the Gentiles (the heathen) do that?

We've all been told that we should love our enemies- this part of the Sermon on the Mount is among the most famous- but we don't often hear about why Jesus states He is giving this command. We are to do this, He says, to show that we are associated with God, are His children, and are different from the World. We are to treat everyone essentially from the same attitude- love- that God, Whose children we are, does, instead of acting in the natural way, the way of the heathen and the corrupt.

The thing is, of course, that the way of the heathen and the corrupt is how you and I want to act, how we instinctively act. Last week, we learned that we are to accept abuse and actually, really "go the extra mile." Now, while it is possible to do this, to force ourselves to do this, it is possible, in fact, likely, that we will harbor less than cordial feelings towards our abusers, even as all outward signs show us "turning the other cheek." The Bible frequently teaches that what really matters is not the external appearances we present to the world, but our true internal reality. It is not acceptable to merely act like we are different from the World, but inwardly be exactly like them, but we must, through internal change, truly be different from the World, loving those whom every natural instinct urges us to hate.

So, once again, we are faced with an impossible increase in what is required of us by morality. Not only are we required to go against nature and act lovingly towards our enemies, but we must truly and actually love them! Our actions we can control through willpower and can communicate fake love, but we cannot fake our insides on our insides- we must actually, really love our enemies, no two ways about it, no loopholes.

But that's impossible.

We can't love people this way. Actions we can force- we can argue with ourselves and shame ourselves, like I did in the last devotional, into acting in a loving way towards our enemies, but we can't force our love, and our love is inadequate. We can't do what Christ demands of us without using His love. Fortunately, this is what being born again is all about: becoming a new person with the indwelling of God Himself in us. Now, with the love He has given us, the love that He showed to us while we were still His enemies, we can love our enemies.

Now it's not impossible, but it is still really hard.

In fact, I don't really feel competent to expound on this, as it is something I struggle with a lot in my own life. It's easy to put on a smile and say "hi" to someone who has hurt you, but to actually wish all manner of good on the person, to want the best for them, and to actually PRAY for this person??!! That, even with the indwelling of God Himself and our new nature given to us through our rebirth is really, really hard. It requires us to forgive completely, and it requires us to see others as God sees them, not as we see them, to see their hurts, not the hurts they've given us. This is something I seriously doubt any person can maintain for any length of time, but it is what we must all be striving for, periodically actually gaining glimpses of God's loving view of us all, and holding that same attitude ourselves. I pray you can do this this week.

- Christopher