Scripture
Matthew 5:43–48
Pastor Rachel closed the Neighbors series with the hardest verse in it: 'Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.' Not the difficult coworker — an actual enemy. Someone who has genuinely wronged you, or whose politics, choices or presence you find hard to be around.
She was honest that this message made her nervous to write, because it's easy to preach and almost impossible to do convincingly. Rather than offering five steps, she told two stories: one about a Cedar Hollow member who spent two years estranged from a sibling over a family dispute, and one about her own slow, unfinished process of forgiving a former boss.
The through-line was that Jesus doesn't ask us to feel warmly toward people who've hurt us before we act toward them with kindness — the feeling, if it comes, tends to come after, not before. 'Enemy love,' Rachel said, 'usually starts as gritted-teeth obedience, not a warm glow.'
She ended the series by tying it back to the first message: loving an actual enemy and loving the neighbor you've never bothered to meet come from the same place — deciding, ahead of the feeling, that the person in front of you matters. 'Cedar Hollow doesn't get to be a church that only loves easy people,' she said. 'That's not a harder church. It's the only kind Jesus described.'
Talk it over
For your group this week, or the drive home.
- 1Is there someone in your life this verse makes you think of immediately? You don't have to share who out loud.
- 2Rachel said the feeling of love often comes after the action, not before. Does that match your experience?
- 3What's the difference between avoiding conflict and actually forgiving someone?
- 4What would one small, concrete step toward an estranged relationship look like for you this month?