These scriptures are just good old fashioned "Where the rubber meets the road" stuff...
LOVE YOUR ENEMIES!!
So who is my enemy? Those who hate me. So.. who hates me? who curses me? Who persecutes me? Who spitefully uses me?
Whoever pops in our minds when we ask ourselves this question is who our enemy or enemies are.
The first thing I thought of when reading this was, I need to find out did I do something wrong to cause them to feel that way about me?..Is there something I need to repent of? Is there something I need to ask forgiveness for? If so, that would be my first step.
If not, then Jesus is not saying that we are to "like" what they are doing, but respond the way He did when He was hated, cursed persecuted and ridiculed.
Loving someone has nothing whatsoever to do with how we "feel". Love is nothing more than doing the right thing regardless of how we "feel"
Love is patient, kind, long suffering and never holds a grudge..
I don't believe Jesus is telling us to be the victims of abusive or sadistic people, because in other scripture He tells us to be wise, but gentle as doves..
Throughout His ministry He would leave areas when they wanted to hurt Him. He didn't just stand there and let them kill Him (until it was time for Him to do so at Calvary)..
As I go through life, I always ask myself this question..."What would Jesus do?...or "What did He do? The Holy Spirit helps me remember things that Jesus did in certain situations, and so use those stories and situations as a template for how I should act or re-act in situations...
I have also learned while trying to put these principles into practice in my own life I found that "Hurting people..Hurt people".
Sometimes people are hurting so bad, that they put up defenses to protect themselves so they strike out at others. They have been hurt so many times so they put up walls to protect themselves. There is a saying "Misery loves company".
Knowing this helps me to love them in spite of how they treat me. I know they are hurting and miserable for various reasons..and because of that they need my love so much more than others who may be nice to me.
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