I have been reading this devotional which talks about how to love like Jesus. The author makes some very interesting points and references some very good Bible versus.
Jesus loved everyone unconditionally and instructed us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. He also gave some good information in this verse:
Matthew 5:43-48 New International Version (NIV)
Love for Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
He is saying in this verse that if we are to follow him that we need to go above and beyond. It is very hard for us to love people who do not love us in return. It is hard for us to greet those who we do not associate with or like.
Jesus did not ask us to like everyone, but He did ask us to love everyone. Do you hate your fellow neighbor so much that you would want them to go to Hell? I am sure some of you said yes, but is that what Jesus did? Do you deserve to go to Heaven anymore than your neighbor who you hate?
Jesus never hated anyone. You may think that He hated the Sadducees and Pharisees, but I do not believe that to be the case. Jesus just held them to a different standard than others because they were the teachers and leaders. Jesus expected them to lead and teach the people who God really was, but instead they themselves did not really understand and ended up misleading people. Then they became consumed with themselves which made it worse.
I firmly believe if they had accepted Christ and repented, that Christ would have shown them the same kind of compassion that He show others. However, instead they hated Christ because He was not what they imagined a king to look like or behave like.
So the question you have to ask yourself is how do you treat your neighbor? Do you love them as Christ loved everyone? Do you greet them as though they were a long lost friend or do you keep them at arms length? Do you think you are better than those around you or do you realize that all of us are flawed? You can get a great look at yourself depending on how you answer these questions.
If you struggle as most of us do, be thankful that God is slow to anger, forgiving, gracious, helpful, loving, and merciful. Even though we are created in God’s imagine and should be more like God, because of sin we seem to behave exactly the opposite. To help you, my suggestion is to pray and ask God for help, but you need to realize your what your sins are.