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Thursday, September 3, 2026

Love Your Enemies

Scripture — Matthew 5:43–45 (NRSV)

“‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.’”

Devotion

Jesus does not tell us that we will never have enemies.

He seems to assume that we will.

There will be people who oppose us, misunderstand us, hurt us, or work against things we believe are deeply good. The remarkable part of Jesus’ teaching is not that Christians somehow avoid conflict. It is what Jesus tells us to do when conflict comes.

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

That is difficult enough when the enemy is an abstract idea or a convoluted thought. It becomes much harder when a face comes to mind.

Loving an enemy does not mean pretending that what someone has done is acceptable. It does not require calling injustice "justice" or remaining silent when someone is being harmed. Love sometimes requires a very clear no.

But Jesus draws a boundary around our resistance: the person we oppose never stops being someone we are commanded to love.

That changes things.

It means I cannot reduce another human being to a label. I cannot delight in someone’s suffering because I think they deserve it. I cannot allow disagreement to become contempt. And I cannot decide that because someone has treated me as an enemy, I now have permission to hate them.

Jesus gives us a remarkably practical way to begin: pray for them.

Not a prayer asking God to straighten them out.

Simply bring them honestly before God. Ask God to give them grace. Ask for their healing and redemption. Ask God to help you see them as someone made in God’s image.

You may discover that prayer does not immediately change them.

But it may begin changing you.

In a world increasingly skilled at teaching us whom to despise, loving an enemy may be one of the clearest ways Christians can bear witness to Jesus.

We can stand firmly against what is wrong.

We just must simply refuse to stop loving while we stand.

Daily Bread

No disagreement can release me from Jesus’ command to love.

Prayer

Father, loving those who oppose me is difficult. Keep resentment and contempt from taking root in my heart. Give me courage to resist what is wrong, grace to pray for those I struggle to love, and a heart increasingly shaped by the love of Jesus. Amen.

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Get your Daily Devotion Email from Rev. Dr. Drew Shelley at the First United Methodist Church of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.