Week 43
Love Your Enemies
Matthew 5:43–48
“Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you.”
Matthew 5:43–48 (NKJV)
Jesus names the person we would prefer love not to include: the enemy. His command reaches beyond natural affection into the territory where grace alone can lead.
Enemy-love does not call hostility harmless. Jesus speaks plainly of cursing, hatred, spite, and persecution. Love begins with truth, not sentimental denial.
To bless is to refuse language that dehumanizes. To pray is to place the enemy before God, where judgment belongs and where our own heart is searched.
Doing good may coexist with strong boundaries, resistance to evil, and protection of the vulnerable. Love seeks the other’s true good, which never requires enabling destruction.
The pattern is the Father, who gives sun and rain beyond the boundaries of gratitude. Common grace witnesses to a generosity not governed by deserving.
The power is the cross. While we were enemies, Christ died for us. We do not approach opponents as morally untouched people but as former enemies reconciled by mercy.
Prayer slowly breaks hatred’s claim upon imagination. It may not create trust or reconciliation where repentance is absent, but it can free us from becoming what we oppose.
Bring one enemy—or one person you instinctively despise—before the crucified Christ. Ask for truthful love, wise courage, and a heart no longer governed by retaliation.
In Conversation with Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Bonhoeffer identified prayer for enemies as the highest expression of love because it brings the persecutor into the presence of God and beneath the cross of Christ.
This costly command never makes evil unreal. It resists evil without surrendering to hatred, trusting God with judgment while seeking the neighbor’s redemption.
A Prayer
Lord Jesus,
Father of mercy, I confess how quickly hostility teaches my heart contempt.
Protect those who are endangered and give courage to resist evil truthfully. Keep resistance free from revenge and boundaries free from hatred.
Because Christ loved me when I was an enemy, teach me to bless, pray, and seek the true good even of those who oppose me. Amen.
Walk This Week with Christ
Let grace become obedience.
Return often to Matthew 5:43–48. Read slowly, listen for the call of Jesus, and carry His word into the choices before you.