Luke 6:27-28

But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

God’s love is different, and because it’s different, it teaches us to love differently as well.

The way we know to love is simple: do good to those who are good to you and repay evil with evil. It comes naturally. On the playground, we take revenge on people who hurt us. We gravitate toward those who appreciate us and love those who love us. It comes easy.

God teaches us a new way, because his love is different.

God demonstrated his love for us by sacrificing his Son to pay for OUR sins. He repaid our evil with the goodness of his grace and forgiveness. He took revenge on his Son and gave us eternal life.

And where do we go from here?

Well, what does God’s love toward us prompt us to do? What does it inspire us to do? We hear God’s call and see his love in action and go out to love. We love those who we would call an enemy. We do good to those who hate us. We pray for and bless those who persecute us.

Why?

That’s how God treated us. That’s the new attitude God instilled in us when he brought us to life and faith. That’s what it means to live like God and reflect his glory in the world.

Our natural self knows an aspect of love, but God teaches us a wholly different way to love, a way that reveals God in all his glory.