Love Your Enemy

Jesus Christ Topical Guide: Sermon On The Mount Series

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.”

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”

“For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans do the same?”

“And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so?”

Living this doctrine of loving your enemies is difficult. How can we do it? I don’t think it will happen without being born again and overcoming the Natural Man. We naturally don’t like pain; and avoid people who inflict pain on us.

Additionally, I think the Lord literally means love your enemy. However, He doesn’t say “let your enemy abuse you.” Justice is the Lord’s and it may come quickly or take a while. For example, if I were counseling a survivor of sex trafficking, I would advise her to forgive her pimp and those who raped her, and leave punishment up to the Lord. He can heal all pains and afflictions, including sexual abuse.

There are other applications to this. For example, sometimes a group of people is wrongly dehumanized. Hitler did that with the Jews and it happens in most wars. Can you love, sacrifice and serve someone who is shunned by society?

If you live in the Salt Lake City valley, I invite you to join us at church on Sunday's. Currently we meet at 9 A.M.; however, starting in January we will change to noon. We are a mid-singles ward; however, if you have a family please don't let that stop you. Please, join us for for our first meeting which is Sacrament meeting, and make sure you ask someone to introduce you to our ward mission leader. Our address is 7155 South 540 East, Midvale Utah, 84047.