Re:Verse passage – Matthew 5:33-48 (day five) ”But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,“
Jesus is teaching a complete perspective of what loving really is, and who our neighbors really are. Certainly loving through our deeds is a natural and understandable application. “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,” Luke 6:27. Jesus modeled this for us. See Romans 5.
Jesus also preaches, we are to love with our words- our prayers. Maybe the more difficult assignment. “This is the supreme command… through the medium of prayer we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him to God.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer And didn’t Jesus model that very same thing on the cross? “Father forgive them…” Oh that our words and prayers would shape our thoughts and hearts to love all of those around us.
“It is impossible to pray for someone without loving him, and impossible to go on praying for him, without discovering that our love for him grows and matures. We must not, therefore, wait before praying for an enemy until we feel some love for him in our heart. We must begin to pray for him before we are conscious of loving him, and we shall find our love break first into bud, then into blossom.”- John Stott
