Matthew 5:43-48 How Can I Love My Enemy? Saturday 1st Week of Lent

Breakfast with the Word Saturday 1st Week of Lent

 

 

Whenever one comes across this statement from Jesus in Matthew 5:43-48, one begins to ask some questions. We ask “how can Jesus tell us to love our enemies?

 

 

In Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus tells his disciples to show love to their enemies and pray for their persecutors. In this bible verse of Matthew 5:43-48, one begins to ask the reason Jesus wants us to love our enemies. 

 

 

How can I love someone I am sure he/she does not want the good of me? How can you tell me to love someone who hates me for no reason, and he/she is out to eliminate my life? 

 

 

 

Read More

 

Nothing Surpasses Peace.

 

On this Rock I will build My Church: Feast of the Chair of St. Peter.

 

If God is Truly Our Father

 

Jesus is the Center, Not Signs and Wonders

 

Ask, Seek and Knock Matthew 7:7-12

 

The Strength to Conquer Temptations. First Sunday of Lent Year C

 

The Call to Change Our Lives: Saturday After Ash Wednesday

 

 

 

 

An Enemy.

 

The dictionary defines an enemy as someone hostile to someone or something for some reasons best known to him.

 

 

 Hostile behaviour means behaviour or attitude that is aggressive, unfriendly, full of wickedness and hatred, out to destroy and not to save, harms someone etc. Therefore, this is what the enemy does.

 

 

An enemy uses every form of weapon to attack his/her subject. He/she can pose as a friend, but within the heart, he/she wants to do everything to destroy and harm you. 

 

 

This kind of person is someone who does not want your good at heart. When they see or hear anything about you, They show signs of hatred, envy and jealousy. An enemy is not happy with any good thing about you, and he/she is out to fight you either spiritually or physically. 

 

 

Sometimes, it is as a result of a reason best known to them. It is this type of person that Jesus says that we should love. How possible?

 

 

This is the area many Christians today fail. Then one begins to ask why Jesus expects us to love them? What impact has my enemy to do with me? Why must I show him/her love despite his/her wickedness and attack towards me? How can this be possible?

 

 

 

The Enemy Within.

 

 

There are many today who are working behind the screen against us. Some are fighting both tooth and nail to see that you fail.

 

Sometimes, these people laugh, eat and drink with us but their hearts are prepared to make you fall or die even. Today, many people have been poisoned because of this enemy within. 

 

 

The enemy simply means against. Their manner of approach may be subtle, but in their hearts lies the deepest secret ever. Within them is a deep secret against you and against whatever you do in life. 

 

 

The enemy within comes and sometimes poses as a friend, but His mission is to destroy. Today in Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus tells us that we should not fight or retaliate against them but to pray and love them. Why? Let us find the reasons we still have to love our enemies; they are:

 

 

Reasons to Love Your Enemies and Pray for Your Persecutors.

 

 

1. In Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus says, it is the only way to distinguish who we are. We are the sons of the Father. We have to be like the Father. The Igbo man will say Oyiri nna ya, meaning like Father, like son. 

 

 

We are not sons of the devil, and if we are not, we should not in any way operate like Him.

 

The Father causes rain and sun to fall on the sinners and righteous at the same time. This attitude of the Father explains the reason everyone prospers both Christians and pagans. The only reason is the love of God. He does not discriminate. But in the end, the wheat will be separated from the chaff (Matthew 3:12).

 

 

2. Our life on earth is a life striving for perfection. Perfection simply means without fault or flaws. In Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus tells us that as children of God, we have to be perfect as the Father. Therefore, our life on earth is striving towards perfection. To be perfect, we have to live in love and not in hatred. 

 

 

3.To do the will of God is not only when we pray and fast. To do the will of God demands obedience. Therefore, if it demands obedience, we have to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors as God instructs us to do. 

 

 

4. To be a follower of Jesus, we must be ready to do like Him, who at the last hour of His suffering forgave even His persecutors. 

 

 

So, to be a follower of Jesus is to be transformed in everything we do and how we think. Jesus does not put any limit on the people we are supposed to love. Let us carry this cross and love like Jesus. Let Jesus be our guide. 

 

 

 

Therefore, bless those who curse you, pray for that person fighting at your back, because the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. This then means that you are putting God in charge and allowing Him to take control.

 

 

May God bless you dearest, and help us in this life. May He favour you, beyond our expectations. Amen.

 

 

Read More

 

The Way to Save Lives

How to Win souls for God

The Power of “I Am Sorry: Why We need to apologise

Top Ten Reasons It is not wrong to ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to pray for us

When It looks as If God does not answer prayers: Mark 7:24-30