There’s at least one teaching of Jesus that we are free to ignore. It’s not really relevant to us.
Love your enemies.
Thank you very much, Jesus, but we don’t have enemies. We’re too nice. We love everybody.
Oh, sure, there are difficult people in our lives. But, that’s their fault. And, anyway, we’ve learned how to ignore them. They don’t really bother us. They don’t matter at all.
Right.
A 30-Day Focus on learning to love on purpose sooner or later has to deal with Jesus’ most radical and disturbing teaching about love. It’s found in Matthew 5:43-48, and, frankly, most of us could do without it.
How wild is it that if you won’t to be loved by a Christ-follower, the surest way is to become his enemy? In theory at least.
The instruction is starling, but the rationale is even more startling.
Why did it make perfect sense to Jesus that his followers would love their enemies?Â
This Sunday.
Invite an enemy to church with you.