How far does my love have to go?

When we move beyond thinking about love in terms of romance and feelings and start to understand it as a self-sacrificing way of life, it naturally raises the question, "How far does my love have to go?" 

Meaning, is there a limit to who I have to love? 

Of course I should love my spouse, kids, extended family, and close friends. But I don't need to worry about loving my co-workers, the neighbor three houses down, or my daughter's third grade teacher, right?

For all of the amazing and inspirational things Jesus did and taught, He also did and said some things that are pretty hard to swallow. 

One of those things was the statement on how far our love should go. He said, "Love your enemies."

What!?!?!? 

If I'm honest, I have a hard time comprehending this statement. I don't really think that I have enemies in my life. None that I know of at least.

An enemy is defined as someone who is actively opposed, antagonistic, or hostile toward someone else. You could also think of it as someone who desires harm to come your way and celebrates it when it happens.

In 2015 a video went viral of a group of ISIS soldiers brutally murdering a group of 21 Christian men who were kidnapped in Libya. It was horrific and demonstrates the type of people Jesus says we are called to love when He says, "love your enemies." 

There are plenty of days I have a hard time loving my own kids, good friends, and fellow Christians, let alone an actual enemy. 

No one in my life is trying to harm me, take me down, or slander my name. If there was someone like that, I'd be tempted to get even, or I would simply avoid them. My natural inclination wouldn't be to actively look for ways to love them. 

The idea of loving your enemy has recently been on my heart because as I observe so much of what is going on in our world, it seems as though we are quick to cast people as our enemy, even though they aren't. We have very little tolerance for people who think and believe differently than us. Rather than exercising compassionate curiosity around why they hold their convictions, we're quick to draw a line in the sand and say they're our enemy. 

What, then, are we called to do? 

Be much slower to believe the worst in people. That instead of reacting out of rage, fear, and a sense of self-righteousness, we would get better at being curious and asking good questions.

Take to heart the words of Jesus to love people who aren't even our enemies but are simply people who are different than us.

Realize that Jesus isn't asking us to do something that He isn't willing to do Himself. On the cross, instead of condemning the people who crucified Him, He forgave them. "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)

Many of us don't have real enemies in our lives. We have people who we've cast as enemies. What if we started by reframing the way we see people? That might go a long way toward increasing our love in the world. 



Bryan MarvelComment