REAL LOVE! I’m talking ‘bout a real love (Someone to set my heart free!)

Mt 5:43-48
43 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’[a] and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies![b] Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends,[c] how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.



(Ya'll youngsters may not know that Mary J Blige song.)



In this passage Jesus, continues to call us to be different. This is arguably the most famous part of His sermon, and probably the hardest to live out. We must first ask, “what does Jesus mean exactly by “loving our enemies?”

In Greek, there are 4 different words for “love”:

1: Storgê: family love i.e. parent to a child
2: Erôs: attraction between the guys and girls
3: Philia: affection i.e. the feeling one has towards their closest friend
4: Agapê: unconquerable benevolence or invincible goodwill.

Jesus never asked us to love our enemies as we would our child, our spouse, or our best friend. But he does challenge us to love in a way that transcends the norm, our feelings, or any other factor other than the fact that it’s the way of Christ. It then becomes a matter of will and not a matter of emotion or instinct. We can only accomplish this with the help and example that Jesus gave us.

Love does not mean that we allow people to do absolutely as they like and leave them unchecked. No one would say that parent love their children if they let them do everything they wish, especially if its destructive behavior. What I mean is sometimes we have to punish, restrain, discipline and protect people from themselves sometimes. But we are never to punish for our own gain, revenge, or protection. We only do it to help them become better people. Christian “punishment” must be aimed at a cure or a remedy.

Let us remember that this is a command for our personal relationships, but extends to the people we only have acquaintance with. And when those people may hurt us, and as we are never to defend ourselves or retaliate, we are, in fact, called to pray for them. We cannot hate someone and pray for them at the same time.

And you may ask, “what’s the point of all this?” Is it just for us to be great moral people? Is it to promote good will on earth? The answer: It is this love that makes men and women like God. Jesus says that if you love like this, “you will be “sons of your father in heaven (v. 45)” And isn’t this our whole purpose for living (not to be confused with our mission)?

Read Genesis 1:26. 26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings[a] in our image, to be like us (NLT)." God desires for us to be like him. We may sin against him. Sometimes we may even be angry with him. He loves us anyway. He loves us conditional of nothing. He sticks to His character and values, and thank goodness love is one of those. I believe he loves us like a father loves a child, or how a friend would do anything for his friend (Jesus). But this is how we can truly be like God: when we can be loving in all situations, in all relationships, and at all times.


Challenge: Think about times, relationships, areas of your heart where you are not loving (c'mon, be real) and think of how Jesus would be in those scenarios.

Then, simply, be like God.



Have a godly weekend.


John Q

("Ooooooo-ou-o-u searchin’ for a real love…")