Love Despite
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you... Do to others as you would have them do to you.
- Luke 6:27, 31
Doing unto others as you would have them do to you starts with choosing to find the good in people, which is not easy. It is easy to find the bad because the hurt we experience when someone has wronged us, mistreated us, or disagreed with us is so real. However, Jesus calls us to see past the bad, to find the good, and to love others for the good we see. In doing so, we do not accept this evil or hurt that we experience from the acts of someone, but we still love that person by finding the good in them, showing that they, too, can be loved and forgiven. It is hard but rewarding to find the good because when we do, we see the beauty that God has created in those around us. Finding the good enables forgiveness, empathy, and grace. We begin to see others for who God has created them to be; our brothers and sisters in Christ, not our enemies.
As followers of Christ, we are called to imitate Christ. When we look at His life, He lived out this verse perfectly. He prayed for those who persecuted Him. He did good to those who hated Him. He gave up His life to save sinners who betray Him daily. He sees the ugly. He sees the worst parts of us. He sees the things that we try to hide from everyone else. He sees our sin. He sees it all but loves us and came to save us anyway. God clearly does not love us because of anything we do or have done. Instead, He loves us despite these things. We, too, are called to do the same. It’s not loving because, it’s loving despite. We must not love others because of the things they do, good or bad. We must love them despite these things with the self-sacrificial love demonstrated to us in Jesus Christ. We must love them for who God has created them to be. When God looks at us, He sees His children. He sees His image-bearers. When we look at our neighbors, let us see the same.
Living out this calling to love our enemy is so contrary to anything the world tells us or any feeling that we are compelled to act upon. That is why in doing so, we shine a bright light in this dark world. As imitators of Christ, we are called to love. Not if people love us back or if they have done the right things. We are simply called to love everyone and to treat others as we want to be treated regardless of who they are, what they have done, or what they believe. In order to live in obedience to this calling, we must see past our disagreements and hurt and choose to find the good in everyone, including our enemy. We must love despite, not because.
~ Sadie Elsenbroek