God Loves Them?
You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’[q] and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. Matthew 5:43-45
On MLK Day, I was driving home from Texas. As such, I did not get an opportunity to listen much about Dr. Martin Luther King as I had in prior years. However, it allowed me the following day to relax and focus on what things I did not know about him. This year, I stumbled across a very short speech on loving your enemies. Knowing him as a preacher from the south, I would have expected it to be much lengthier, and indeed, I would find there is a longer version of it. Nonetheless, I listened to this speech, and as usual, gained a healthy dose of what made him great. The comment that resonated most was him saying about having love for all men. He said, “It is a love that seeks nothing in return. It is an overflowing love; it’s what theologians would call the love of God working in the lives of men. And when you rise to love on this level, you begin to love men not because they are likeable, but because God loves them.”
It is important that our perspective on others is the same as Jesus would see it. In reading what Jesus is asking in today’s verses, it feels like an impossible task. However, I learned that what Jesus is saying is not only possible but also necessary, and here is why. When we think of our relationship with Christ, we realize how flawed we are. This is not to say that we were not good people prior to being born again, but it is to say that we do not meet up to God’s standard alone. That is easy to understand because none of made the standard. Much like Dr. King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech, our journey of faith is aspirational. We aspire to be perfect representatives of Christ, and thus, we are a continual work in progress. Some of the aspects are easy to achieve such as faithfully going to church on Sundays. Others such as this can be quite a bit more challenging.
Jesus’ prompting to pray for your enemies is a great start to changing our perspective to anyone we consider an enemy because it puts our hearts in the right place. Through prayer, we can see things from a more God-like perspective and become open to better ways that may help turn the tide. There are things such as shifting mindsets from how you view them as an enemy to how you might respond if they were your closest friend. Simple acts such as buying lunch, having an engaging conversation over areas of common beliefs, or sharing challenges are ways that can change perspectives. The goal is not for them to become your friend. It is for you to love on them like Jesus and allow for Him to do the rest.
God always has a plan for us. We all have an idea of what we would like our relationships to like, and the goal of our journey is to be better followers of Christ. This requires things such as ‘The Great Commission’ where Jesus says, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19). But Jesus’ purpose for today’s verses is not convert others. It is to convince us as believers to be better examples. That is how Dr. Martin Luther King made prior enemies powerful allies, and it is how we convert both friends and enemies to Christ for as MLK said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Let us not forget that. Who are enemies that you can view differently through Jesus’ words? What changes can you make to better love both friend and foes? My prayer is that we better see others like Dr. King did because God loves them. Amen.