Love for One AnotherGodly Love Among Believers
Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) Confident LoveMatthew 5:43-45New International VersionLove for Enemies43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For ReflectionSo, I goofed up the mailings this week. So here's a bonus meditation.
This has been a difficult year, made especially difficult by our need to fend off fear and false prophets. Perhaps the most difficult of all the Christian Practices is employing the greatest commandment, to love your enemies as God loves. With one chaotic detour after another, the abandonment of truth as a moral imperative, the pressure of Covid, and the paralysis of partisanship, somehow we have to find the will to love even those who threaten us.
There is only one exit from this highway to hate and eventual destruction, LOVE! Loving one's enemy is an absolute key to our survival. We cannot afford to talk glibly about morality merely. We must embrace the promise of our faith and have the courage to love extravagantly. I am talking about understanding and creative, redemptive goodwill for all people. Such love transforms the relationships among people, dissolves the obstructions that prevent listening to each other, and enables us to reach consensus about the common good.
Pray Pray so that you will find the courage to act lovingly toward all people, to preserve the freedom to choose, to restore respect for each other, and to discover the truths that bind us rather than divide us. Forward to a friend | 
