27 “But I say to you who listen: Love your enemies, do what is good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. (Luke 6:27-28 CSB)
Boy, here is one that is hard for me to follow, how about you? God does not want us to just tolerate our enemies or those who mistreat us. No, He actually wants us to show love toward them. He wants us to go the extra mile and actually treat them with great respect and unconditional love.
Human nature is typically the exact opposite of this. We do not even tolerate our enemies, we talk badly about them and allow our frustration to create bitterness. If we are honest, we hold grudges.
What Christ calls us to is not easy. Not here, not elsewhere in the scriptures. He is not looking for just for our acceptance of His teaching, but a living of it that manifest His life replacing ours in thoughts and interactions. It is a tall order and He knew it would be. But consider this, if we struggle to even tolerate our enemies with a command to love them, how could He ask for anything less?
God knew that we would need just as sacrificial an act from us if we were to learn even approach Christ likeness. We would have to be required to go above and beyond to even make it as far as we do. If we do not strive for Christ perfection we cannot hope to display Christ love.
