Today’s 333 Devotional: “Love the One You Hate”

If you are alive there’s good chance you have enemies, those who have risen up against you, who bitterly despise you, misrepresent your actions, smeared your reputation, and opposed you at every turn.

But how are we to respond as Christians?

Sadly, it’s more in the way of our hating them right back, hoping they get what they deserve, which involves our telling God just what we think, and more often than not making them pay when the opportunity arises.

But this is not the way set forth by God. Instead, He tells us to love them. But why? It’s because they are people Jesus Christ died for just as He died for you and me. In essence, we are to love the person but hate the sin.

When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus broke down the whole of God’s law to one thing, “love.” The fulfillment of both the Law and the prophets hangs on such love, that is, when we love God with the whole of our being and others as ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40).

But to love others doesn’t mean just those who we like, those that are lovely and loveable, but also those we hate.

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:43-44)

Okay, but what does this love look like?

To bless those who curse you is to speak only good things about them, things that will edify and not tear down. To do good to those who hate you is to do everything in your power to help heal and recover them from the clutches of Satan, our real enemy. And to pray for them is to act as an intercessor to the Lord on their behalf.