"But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you." - Luke 6:27

In the context of our verse, Luke records that Jesus Christ was with "a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases" (6:17-18). In his teaching, Jesus instructs his listeners on how to live their everyday lives. He then makes a stunning statement: love your enemies. The reason he taught this is because the disciples would soon be on the receiving end of much hatred because they followed him. In other words, it was because of their faith in Christ, that they would soon experience extreme dislike and disgust. Rather than responding to hatred with more hatred, he taught them to respond with love and the doing of good. 

Do you have enemies in your life? Are people antagonistic towards you? Is there someone who extremely dislikes you or is disgusted by you? Well, Jesus has something to say about that. Maybe such people don't hate you because of your faith in Jesus. Maybe they hate you because of your work, family, finances, or maybe even your politics. Yet your response to hatred for any reason should remain the same: love and the doing of good. So how should you practically love your enemies? Start with prayer: "Lord, help me to love my enemies and do good for them." Then do something. Greet them in the morning with a smile and a hello. Buy them coffee. Take them out for lunch. Invite them to a party. Whatever good you do, indifference is not an option. Hatred should be off the table. Only love and the doing of good is the appropriate response of the follower of Jesus to hatred. Love your enemies.

For Jesus,
Pastor Mark