Love Your Neighbor

March 7th
Matthew 5:43-48
43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.' 44But I tell you: Love your enemies[b] and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Loving your enemy is a very hard concept for most of us to comprehend. Our immediate reaction when someone hurts us is to retaliate in the same way. What God is asking us to do here is to respond with kindness.
Anger and hate can get totally out of control when fed with more of the same. If, on the other hand, we were to respond with kindness and love towards our enemy the anger would diffuse because it would have nowhere to go.
Think what would happen if all of us treated our enemies in this way. Anger and hate would no longer exist and, perhaps, we would have the kind of world that God originally intended for us to have.
–Marcia Smith

Practice – Write down some of the steps on your spiritual journey.