We can love our enemies, learn to be forgiving, feel sorry for those in need, be humble and sympathetic, encourage our friends, and pray to God as often as we can. Have your kids watch this short animated video to learn more about how to be more like Jesus!
Loving your enemies is to want good and not harm to come to them. Jesus mapped this out for us, especially in the last days of his life before his crucifixion. Jesus not only taught us in detail how to love our enemies, he showed us in living color how to profoundly care for them. He literally "walked the walk" – all the way to Calvary. As we look back upon the death and resurrection of Jesus, we will see how he was the instruction manual for loving your enemies. How did Jesus show devotion to those who were devious and hostile, attachment to those who antagonized him and affection for those who became his adversaries? For an in depth bible study listen to our inspiring podcast of the same name.
Jesus told us to love our enemies, but what exactly does that mean? Am I not loving enough? Do I need to change?
We all know that Jesus taught us to forgive. If your brother trespasses against you seven times in a day, Jesus says to forgive. Okay, while this may be difficult, we can see its value and strive to live up to that standard. But, but what about when someone commits a horrible crime – what about when someone guns down in cold blood, innocent God fearing people in church – at a Bible study? Is the same lesson of forgiveness relevant? Do the teachings of Jesus include forgiving those who are simply and purely evil in their actions?
Enemies. For some of us, naming them is easy – we can put a name and a face to them and recite the reasons we have to consider them enemies. For others, the idea of an enemy may be more related to a general group who may have a different ideology, or a different political perspective. Whatever makes someone your enemy, the question remains, how do you treat them? Jesus says to love our enemies, but is that really a practical statement? Doesn’t loving an enemy overlook and minimize the very reasons that they may justifiably be our enemies? Stay with us!
