Jonathan Merritt: Remixed - Enemy Lovers

As humans, we instinctively know we should love our families. We should love our friends. We should love our countrymen and those we care about. But what about one's enemies--the person who did you wrong, who stole from you, who slandered you, who manipulated you, who hurt you? Many people would say they don't hate these people. We think if we call it something other than “hate” it’ll make us feel better about ourselves. And it does to some extent. But "hatred" is that twisted thing that happens inside of you when you withhold love from someone who needs it, from someone who does you wrong. You may have given it a name that sounds prettier than “hate,” but we all have our list of people we withhold our love from. You have yours, and I have mine.

Jesus says that the Kingdom is a place where love is indiscriminate and unconditional, where we love those people we may think are unlovable. Yes, even those backstabbing, betraying repeat offenders in your life. In this talk, I explore how we can begin loving our enemies as we participate in the upside-down kingdom of God (begins at 23:43):

http://vimeo.com/70283569

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