Even Your Enemies

Luke 6

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Luke 6 is an instruction manual for Christ-followers; if you desire to live for him, these scriptures lay out how to do it. However, a lot of his words of guidance completely contradict what our instincts tell us, and what the world around us accepts as the norm.

We’ve all heard it many times before: love your enemies. Three words so commonly spoken within the church, but rarely fully absorbed. By habit, we show abounding love and affection towards the people in our lives who are close, and easy to love; to our family, our friends, the people we “click” with. But when it comes to the people we face who are difficult to even be around, how do you know how to begin showing them love in the same way we show love to those with whom it comes naturally? It often goes against every fiber of our being. But that’s the world in us, not God.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Romans 12:2

As children of God, we live in this world, but we are not of it. To step out of the patterns of the world and into the lifestyle described in the Bible is to free yourself from the enslavement of sin. Because we are in such close proximity to ideas and actions that contradict God’s will for us, it’s so easy to fall into the trap that pulls us farther away from God. But we are not of the world, we
are of God, and our God is a God of love; He is the very definition of Love. To embody true, pure, godly love is to love all people, and to show it in your actions, in how you speak, and in everything you do. God’s love knows no bounds, it is limitless. It seeps into every space that allows room for it, and fights to get into every space that is full, flowing endlessly in every direction. It’s a love that isn’t “fair,” it isn’t earned. It isn’t exclusive, and it never runs out.

This is the love that we are to allow into our lives, the deepest form of love that cannot be found anywhere outside of God. And when we have that love in our lives, we are to show it to everyone around us, no matter who they are, whether friend or foe. It’s a light that doesn’t go out and never stops shining. By this love, Christ lives in us.

-Isabella Osborn

Reflection Questions

1. What does Luke 6:35 mean to you? Does it fill you with hope and enthusiasm?
2. How can you show God’s love to those you don’t normally feel obligated to show love to?
3. What are some differences in how “even sinners” love (Luke 32-34), versus how we (as sinners, but also followers of Christ), are to love?