"Love Your Enemies" One of the most challenging commands from Jesus, if obeyed, yields the greatest benefits both here on earth and for eternity in heaven, is to love our enemies.  Jesus defined an enemy as someone who has hated you, betrayed you, cursed you, abused you, or persecuted you.  “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…”  (Matthew 5: 44).  We can have enemies in the world, in the church, in our families, and even some enemies whose bitter seeds have remained long after they have been planted in the grave.  Forgiving and loving our enemies is not an option where we can pick and choose who to forgive.  Refusing to show mercy to those who have injured us is to disobey God and refuse the mercy He has allotted to us.  Jesus said, “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses”  (Matthew 6: 14, 15). Jesus instructed His disciples to “love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Highest.  For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.  Therefore be merciful, just as you Father in heaven is merciful…Forgive, and you shall be forgiven, give, and it shall be given to you…for with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you”  (Luke 6: 35-38).  In the Beatitude, Jesus proclaimed, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy”  (Matthew 5:7).  When God’s children forgive, they are, like Jesus, revealing the Father’s nature to the world.  By loving and praying for and forgiving our enemies, we are proving our sonship to God and we can inherit all of the blessings that He has bestowed upon His children.   When we relinquish all thoughts and acts of revenge and commit those who have sinned against us to the justice of God, we are following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ:  “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us,  leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: ‘Who committed no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth,’ who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him Who judges righteously…”  (1 Peter 2: 21-23).  This takes complete death to self and living for the will of God whereby we can beseech God on behalf of those who have injured us, and like Jesus hanging on the cross, cry out, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  Unbelievers, who are called “enemies of the cross,” are actually fighting against God rather than God’s children.  The Bible warns believers that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution”  (2 Timothy 3: 12).  Even if Christians live a holy and blameless life, persecution will still come.  Jesus told His followers:  “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you…a servant is not greater than his master.  If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you”  (John 15: 18, 20).  The Apostle Paul, who suffered much persecution from his enemies, encouraged his brothers and sisters in Christ to have the same mindset as Jesus when their enemies rise up against them:   “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin” (1 Peter 4:1). When Christians do not hold their enemies in unforgiveness, it allows God to work in the hearts of those who offended them, as well as heal the wounds of the ones who were sinned against (John 20: 23).  Christians are called to be “ambassadors of reconciliation” to the lost, rather than purveyors of judgment.  By denying our “rights” to defend and vindicate ourselves, and instead, following Jesus’ example, we become the peacemakers who shall be called the sons of God  (Matthew 5: 9). “Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another, love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing”  (1 Peter 3: 8-9).