“Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.”
Philippians 2:1-2 NLT
One of the most difficult aspects of our Christian walk is learning to love others. In everyday life, we learn to love those who are family, those who are like us and support us. But what about all those who aren’t like us, those who actually oppose our way of living? What do we do with those who are our enemies and seek to overthrow our way of life? Jesus wrote the direction for us believers, learn to love even those who are our enemies. Christ has called us out of the darkness into his marvelous light. As such, we have to begin to expand our sphere of love and love the unlovable.
We need to know that in the scheme of our lives, we were once unlovable compared to the holy standard of God. God had to go through extraordinary measures to provide us with his love and grace. There was nothing easy or simplistic about overcoming our fallen nature and the sacrifice needed was of the highest degree- his perfect Son. Now, we are not God but I believe he expects us to grow and mature in this effort of loving others. Our love should be spurred on by the love Christ has shown us. Paul tells us that the greatest force is love- it has the ability to change lives, heal that which is broken and restore the lost.
Today, let us continue on the pathway of learning to love even those who have hurt us. Being the light to the world means we are called to change things by our love and our actions. We do so through the love and power of our Savior Jesus Christ!
In Christ
RJ