Love for Enemies

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“I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:44-45, NIV-Bible)

The question is how much love one can offer to an enemy? Or, what the Bible meant by ‘loving’, with regards to the enemies? As a matter of fact, this topic brings confusion among the believers since certain verses in the bible advise them not to associate with the evil people. It is written in 2 Corinthians 6:14-16; “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?” Though the bible adamantly states bad company corrupts good character, the term “love your enemy” has quite a different explanation than its conventional or literal meaning, I suppose. Jesus taught everyone to love one another and he demonstrated that love even to the point He sacrificed His own life for others. Since we are to follow Jesus Christ as bible recommends, we are not to love others, to the point we die for them in these days, but to obey and stand firm in the Lord’s teaching – thereby upholding the right-faith by doing good things both in the sight of men and God – sacrificing our life for the work of the Lord till the end.

Again, loving your enemies is not associating with evil people or adapting to their evil ways; instead, it is our sincere ways of caring and accepting them with humility and compassion – not to hate or to outcast. The bible even says to pray for them, that God may show them his light of salvation. The word of God says in John 6:44-45, NIV-Bible; “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.” In a sense, only God can move or change a person to his side; but, God may use anyone to draw those who are in darkness in the process of His redemption plans. Therefore, love your enemy as you would love yourself to the extent you wouldn’t repay the evil with evil, but to forgive and to forget the past. Amen