The commandments of our Lord are always in our best interest but that does not mean that they are always easy.  Some of His commands are very difficult to follow.  This is why the way that leads to life is so narrow (Matthew 7:13-14).  The majority of people in the world will not obey Christ because He means nothing to them.  Some people will obey commands that are not too hard for them because Christ means something to them.  Then there are the few that are walking the narrow road that leads to heaven by obeying Christ in all things because He means everything to them.   Into which category do you fall?

This week I am going to look at some of the difficult commands that Jesus has set forth.  If we fall into the last category I described, that is, if Jesus means everything to us, we will be willing to keep them all.  Let’s look at the first difficult command.

Matthew 5:44 (NKJV)
⁴⁴  But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,

We are all commanded to love others.  Without love, we are nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-4).  Sometimes loving others is easy.  There is nothing difficult about loving those who love us back.  Most people do that.

Matthew 5:46 (NKJV)
⁴⁶  For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

Most will admit that loving our enemies can be a challenge.  I am not talking about enemies in general.  I am talking about people who are our enemies because they do real, specific things to hurt us.  This is what Jesus was speaking of when He commanded His disciples to love their enemies.  He spoke of those who spitefully use and persecute us.  Loving someone who inflicts some kind of pain or hardship upon you, or your family, is indeed a challenge; yet, this is the command.

This might seem impossible until you realize two things.  First, the love under consideration is agape.  Agape is not an emotional love.  The command is not to have good feelings toward, or even like our enemies.  It would be next to impossible to have good feelings toward a person who just caused us pain in some hurtful fashion, and to do so repeatedly would be altogether impossible.  Agape is doable because it is a rational choice instead of an emotional one. To agape our enemies is to act in their best interest.  That may not be something we want to do, but it is very possible and Jesus commands us to do it.

Before you conclude that God is asking too much from us by giving us this command, here is the second thing to realize: God showed us this love when He sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins.

Romans 5:8-10 (NKJV)
⁸  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. ¹⁰  For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

Jesus is not telling us to do anything that He has not already done for us.  In the end, we must remember that our primary mission in life should be to win souls to Christ.  We must love the souls of our enemies enough to be willing to rise above our personal feelings and bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who persecute us.  That is how love acts, and that is what Jesus commands of us.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.