Dec 6, 2019

The Luke Challenge Day 6

But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Luke 6:27-28

There will be people in this world that don't like you. You could be the nicest person to grace this earth but someone will still have a problem with you. And at the end of the day, you can't force someone to like you.

It shouldn't really matter what they think about you, as long as you know what you think about you.

As Christians, we generally only have one real enemy, and that's the devil. When Jesus mentions the word 'enemy' in this statement, he means people who you might not get along with or who don't really like you/you don't really like them.

Despite how you may feel about this other person/people, God is telling us that we must love them regardless of what they do to us. We must repay their evil/hate with good. We must pray for them and bless them.

It's tempting to talk badly about these people who we don't seem to get along with and to show contempt for them. It's not easy, especially when you've tried your hardest to have a civil relationship with them, yet their actions and attitude towards you shows that they'd rather have nothing to do with you.

But as long as we are children of God, God's love should triumph any hatred or contempt we have for others. His love is unconditional, meaning ours must be unconditional too.

If there's anyone you know that you don't have the greatest of relations with, instead of complaining about them, try praying to God about them.

Ask God to touch their hearts so that they can experience and express His unconditional love. Pray for the strength to love them despite their attitude towards you. And pray that, even of you don't become the best of friends, that you can both at least have a civil relationship without tension whenever you meet.