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You have heard people say, “Love your neighbors and hate your enemies.” But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you. Then you will be acting like your Father in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both good and bad people. And he sends rain for the ones who do right and for the ones who do wrong. If you love only those people who love you, will God reward you for this? Even tax collectors love their friends. If you greet only your friends, what's so great about this? Don't even unbelievers do that? But you must always act like your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:43-48
Love is not just an emotion, but it does put lives "in motion" when love becomes the driving factor in your life!
The words Love and Lust both begin with the letter "L" and both have four letters, but they are at polar opposites in meaning. Love is focused on the good of someone else. Lust is focused on my own gratification. Love however puts me in motion for the good of the object of my love. Lust puts me in motion to do harm.
There is a simple old song that proclaims,
"To be like Jesus, to be like Jesus, all I ask, to be like Him." We sang it like little children proclaiming that they want to be like their father, not knowing what it took to really be like Jesus.
Being like Jesus is something you do or do not do every time you speak a word, think a thought or do a deed. But the bottom line of being like Jesus is loving your enemies! That's what Jesus did and that’s what we do not do by nature.
To love your enemies is a supernatural empowerment that cannot be imitated by human flesh.
To be like Jesus today, you can begin by identifying someone who hates you and set your heart and mind to love them. And by the way that includes your emotions. Let the Love of Christ flow through you to those who are lost without Jesus.
Then you will be taking an important step in becoming like God and your enemies will become your "Loved Ones."
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