06/02/2026
Who Do You Love?
Scripture
“If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! 33 And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! 34 And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return.
35 “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. 36 You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.”
-Luke 6:32–36 (NLT)
Jesus does not ease into this. He takes the most basic human instinct — loving the people who love you back — and dismantles it with a single question. What credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. If your love only flows toward people who are kind to you, people who are like you, people from whom you expect something in return, then you are doing nothing remarkable. You are simply doing what every person on earth does naturally. The Kingdom Jesus describes calls us to something categorically different.
Love your enemies. Do good to them. Lend without expecting repayment. These are not gentle suggestions. They are commands that cut against every instinct of self-protection and fairness we carry. And Jesus grounds them not in an abstract principle but in the character of God. He is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. The Father does not reserve His goodness for the deserving. He extends it to everyone, including people who ignore Him, reject Him, and live as if He does not exist. When we love that way, Jesus says, we are acting as children of the Most High. Our love becomes a family resemblance.
"Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart."¹ — Corrie ten Boom, Tramp for the Lord
Ten Boom wrote those words after being asked, face to face, by a former guard at Ravensbrück to forgive him. She stood there with what she described as coldness clutching her heart. She did not feel forgiveness. She chose it. She extended her hand, prayed for help, and found that God supplied what she could not manufacture on her own. That is the model Jesus is pointing us toward. This kind of love is not a feeling you wait for. It is a decision you make, an act of obedience, and as you step out in faith, God meets you there.
So who in your life is hard to love right now? Who has hurt you, ignored you, used you, opposed you? Jesus is not asking whether you feel warmly toward them. He is asking whether you are willing to do good to them, pray for them, extend grace without expecting anything back. That is the love that marks His people. That is the love that makes the watching world stop and ask what is different about you. Love your enemies. Not because they deserve it. Because your Father does.
Reflection:
1. Who in your life right now is difficult to love, and how might Jesus be inviting you to love them practically?
2. What makes it hard for you to do good or be generous without expecting something in return?
3. How would your life look different if you truly believed your reward from God is greater than anything this world could give?
Prayer:
Thank God for loving you even when you were ungrateful and undeserving. Ask Him to give you a heart like His, compassionate, generous, and willing to love your enemies. Pray for the courage to take one step toward someone who is hard to love today.
Footnote:
¹ Corrie ten Boom, Tramp for the Lord (CLC Publications, 1974), 57.