Jesus set forward for Christians a standard of practice regarding having love for others that exceeded all previous revelations. Moral codes of ethics certainly have continued to change since the most primitive of times, but Jesus sets the bar higher still.
Jesus moved us past the ancient “annihilation standard” for dealing with enemies. He moved us long past the “eye for an eye” standard of the Old Testament. He in fact moved us past the limited “don’t do to others what you wouldn’t want them to do to you” and changed it to the positive, taking initiative approach of “love thy neighbor as thyself.” More amazing was his challenge to “love one another as I have loved you.” Recognizing that Jesus laid down his life for us all, we should understand just how amazing his challenge to us is. Jesus went even a step farther…he told us to love our enemies. He told us to pray for those who misuse or abuse us. He told us to do good to those who persecute us. He reminded us that to do so would be clearly different from the rest of the world’s ways of doing things. Loving enemies…a bold move to change the world forever…one person at a time. It’s a task too daunting to try on your own. If we have a prayer of doing what Jesus said…we must follow Him.
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