Loving the Unlovely
When someone is hateful toward you, return love to them. Yours is not to get revenge.
By Pamela Rose Williams
“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:43-45)Today’s passage is one that I often refer to when someone tells me that they just don’t love someone anymore. We truly are admonished to love everyone even our enemies! And that is the hardest thing. The Old Testament reminds us that the LORD will reward us when we care for our enemy. Look at this proverb:
If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee. (Proverbs 25:21-22)
We are required to love everyone. When someone is hateful toward you, return love to them. Yours is not to get revenge. God says this: “To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste” (Deuteronomy 32:25)
The best way to love those that are unlovely is to pray that God softens their heart to receive and give love. God loves them and He loves us, this is our example:
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
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