Love Your Enemies

Read Matthew 5
“You have heard that it was said,
‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’
“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you,
do good to those who hate you, and pray for those 
who spitefully use you and persecute you,
that you maybe sons of your Father in heaven:
for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good,
and sends rain on the just and on the unjust,
“For if you greet your brethren only, what do you more than others?
Do not even the tax collectors do so?
“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
Matthew 5:43-48
The first actual appearance of the word love in the New Testament is in Matthew 3:17 where God announces His approval of Jesus at Christ’s baptism, in the New King James version it reads,
“And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying,
“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
God was pleased with Jesus.
The next time the word love is used directly, are in the words of Jesus quoted
above in Matthew 5:43-49 and it is in relation to our enemies.
In this chapter lies the “Beatitudes”, Jesus covers a wide range of things on our relationship to God and our relationship to man.  Then, right in the last paragraph of the chapter He states,
 “...love your enemies, bless those who curse you,
do good to those who hate you, and pray 
for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.”
Jesus knew that His disciples and those who followed them would be going into a very hostile world.  A world in which they may at times have more enemies than friends.  A world of sin.
He knew that the job of the Christian was to be a light to the world, to reach a world that would not always receive them.  We only have to look at the book of Acts to see what negative things can happen to a Christian.  Peter and John were thrown into prison, Stephen stoned and killed, Paul stoned and left for dead, people taking Paul before the civil authorities.
Yet these men went on because they loved God and they practised what Jesus taught. They loved their enemies and love,“...bears all things, believes all things, hoped all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”  States 1 Corinthians 13.

Something to thing about:

It is impossible for us as Christians to win souls for Christ without love. 

Take a few moments to examine what you call love. Does that love, Bear all things? Believe all things? Hope all things? Endure all things? Never fail? 

Do you put requirements on your love? Do your actions reflect your Love?

Does what you say truly show love?

Or

Do your words and deeds push people from Christ?

Think about it.