Online Bible Verses - Matthew Chapter 5: Loving your enemies

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But 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 5:43-45NIV

Clear instructions, which touch on several key and revealing points.

Love your enemies and pray for those who are mean to you. In effect, love those who hate you. Let me tell you, for me at least, that is a very tall order to fill. In fact, it simply ain’t gonna happen outside of God’s intercession. That said, I anticipate that it just might happen, based on some other entirely unlikely changes I believe Christ has orchestrated to date.

And Jesus did practice what He preached. Recall His statement as tormentors mocked Him while on the cross (Luke 23):

Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

A side note, see here that Jesus is praying to the Father. In other instances, John Chapter 1 verse 1 being one of them, we see Jesus likened to being one in the same with the Father. One in the same yet separate, the deity. Neat and amazing stuff.

So I have a way to go until at a point where I’m loving enemies. All in God’s time, I will just keep asking Him to make it happen.