Love thy enemies

Everything about God yells love, even at the bitter end of Jesus life he loved all of us. He was whipped and beaten, drug through the dirt and had a crown of thorns stuck on his head, nails pierced through His hands and feet and all He was worried about was our salvation. Do we even come close to loving others the way He did? It can be hard at times to forgive a close friend let alone an enemy. We have all experienced heartache when someone close to us said something or has done something to hurt us even if it is unintended. The only way to truly find forgiveness and continue loving that person or persons is to give it to God immediately and show the person who harmed you more love. This can seem hard at times and I know from personal experience in my past I would lash out, showing that person how much it hurt. Making them feel as bad as it felt to me or worse and the problem with this is that it gives a foothold to the devil. The little problem would escalate into something even bigger making it harder to repair the situation and can also spread to other people getting involved with gossip or taking sides. These situations are with your close friends or even acquaintances, can we even imagine what that would look like with someone who hates you. Jesus felt that with every short painful step he took dragging that cross on His back and having those giant spikes driven through His body but He still chose to forgive. It breaks my heart to know that I am weak in my forgiveness as a human but also brings a smile to my face knowing that God is right there to help me go through it. Every time we forgive others for all the little things they’ve done builds us for the major tests in our lives. Colossians 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Matthew 6:14-15 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Heavenly Father thank you for this beautiful day and the chance you’ve given us to be a better Christian then we were the day before. Lord, please help us to find forgiveness in our hearts for anyone who has wronged us so that we can show them your love. Thank you for being with us, in us and around us, in Jesus precious name AMEN!