Reflections
Love your enemies; and pray for those who persecute you.
Love is not only an emotion, but also a decision that involves free will and is carried out by words and actions. Jesus doesn’t command us to like everyone. We cannot program our hearts to like everyone. In fact we are entitled to dislike people who do us wrong. It is thus natural to like our friends and to dislike our enemies.
However, Jesus commands to love our enemies. This means I may dislike someone for having betrayed me, but I can choose to love the person by owning my anger yet treating him or her with respect and compassion.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2018