![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/friends-300x200.jpg\")
Photo by Chang Duong on Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n
Loving enemies is one of the more distinctive features of following Christ. It is the least expected and possibly the most impactful. In a world of vitriolic hatred, political malice, and selfish ambition, loving your enemy will send a different message. That message will be the one sent by Jesus Christ when He died, not just for His friends, but for His enemies (Romans 5:6-11). We were in that group.<\/p>\n
While loving your brothers and sisters is more common and expected (though even then sometimes difficult), loving your enemies, praying for them, being a neighbor to them, will show a Christ-like spirit that seeks their salvation instead of their destruction, their peace instead of their turmoil, their humanity instead of their degradation.<\/p>\n
Christ loved us when we were His enemies. Will we do the same for others?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Doy Moyer The world can see whether or not we love one another (John 13:34-35). The world can see whether or not we are committed to unity (John 17:20-21). The world can also see whether or not we love our enemies (Matthew 5:43-48). Loving enemies is one of the more distinctive features of following…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-19686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-love"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":85997,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/seven-reasons-to-love-others\/","url_meta":{"origin":19686,"position":0},"title":"Seven Reasons to Love Others","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall God commands it. \"Because God said so\" must be good enough to obey. But we want more, don't we? Maybe we should need more reasons! It imitates God. That is the highest motivation. God loved us while we were His enemies (Romans 5:8-10). It helps others (Romans\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33747,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-stop-loving-a-boyfriend-or-girlfriend\/","url_meta":{"origin":19686,"position":1},"title":"How do you stop loving a boyfriend or girlfriend?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How can a person stop loving their girlfriend or boyfriend? I know the feelings are still there deep down, but how do they force themselves to not love you anymore? Answer: I don't understand the question. Given that Jesus said we are to love our neighbor (Matthew 12:31) and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20662,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-we-separate-a-man-from-his-deeds-hating-his-sins-while-loving-his-soul\/","url_meta":{"origin":19686,"position":2},"title":"Should we separate a man from his deeds, hating his sins while loving his soul?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Regarding the love of God for man: I believe that God can separate the man from\u00a0sin.\u00a0 Therefore, God can love the man, but hate the sin.\u00a0 Do you agree with this?\u00a0 Are there scriptures that indicate this? Where Jesus tells us to love your enemies\u00a0in Matthew 5, I believe\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47087,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-god-understand-that-i-have-trouble-loving-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":19686,"position":3},"title":"Will God understand that I have trouble loving people?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am really messed up. I was subjected to severe sexual, emotional, and physical abuse as a child. I do not love myself, do not really like myself. As I age, I keep more and more to myself, only doing shopping as needed, and going to church. I was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28209,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-you-are-to-love-your-enemies-why-did-david-kill-goliath\/","url_meta":{"origin":19686,"position":4},"title":"If you are to love your enemies, why did David kill Goliath?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 26, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was listening to a sermon about how to be\u00a0a man after God's heart. He was speaking about love,\u00a0and\u00a0he said David loved Saul\u00a0even when Saul tried to kill him and searched for\u00a0him for years.\u00a0Even if Saul\u00a0became David's enemy, David would never\u00a0do the same against Saul. He loved Saul and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51687,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-hardest-command\/","url_meta":{"origin":19686,"position":5},"title":"What Is the Hardest Command?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant From time to time, we see articles written about love. We remember a lawyer asking Jesus a question, \"trying him: Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/KirklandMemorial-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19686\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}