Luke 6:27-31

Well, I’m on to blog this week. Lucky for me, I’m blogging about Jesus’ admonishment to ‘love your enemies.’ Oh, goodie.

I’m reminded of a song that the great Tina Turner sang and made quite popular. You may remember this one. What’s Love Got To Do With It? Here are some of the lyrics:

What’s love got to do with it?
What’s love but a second hand emotion?
What’s love got to do with it?
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?

I think Turner wrote these lyrics out of great pain and heartache. I certainly can understand why. She was in an abusive relationship with someone that was supposed to love her. Love is not supposed to hurt like that.

Jesus’ admonishment to love your enemies goes beyond what many of us feel as a heart kind of love. This is where we can learn from the Greek expressions of love. Storge is natural affection. Philia is love between friends. Eros is a romantic love. That’s the love Turner was referencing. And, agape which is an unconditional kind of love. I believe this is love Jesus was referencing when He said, ‘love your neighbors.’ Oh, that’s so hard to do, particularly when our human inclination is to get even (however that looks to you) when we have been hurt or harmed.

Well, sometimes I can love my enemies and then there are times when I have to really rely on God to pull me through.

What about you?

igniting,
Pastor Dawn