⁴³ “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. ⁴⁴ But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! ⁴⁵ In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. ⁴⁶ If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. ⁴⁷ If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. ⁴⁸ But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Matthew 5:43-48

Dear God, being perfect, even as you are perfect, is an interesting target to try to hit. Of course, I can’t be perfect, and I need Jesus’s blood, resurrection, mercy and grace to be even be seen by you. I get that. But still Jesus is saying that we need to simply be above what is going on around us. We need to be above both revenge for evil done to us and reward for good done to us. It’s not how you work. You give sunlight and rain regardless of our good or evil behaviors. You love me and others despite the fact that we don’t love you with all of our heart, mind, and strength.

On a scale of 1-10, I am probably about a 3 when it comes to remembering to look at the world beyond what I can see with my eyes. That is to say, every once in a while I am actually cognizant that you are doing things I cannot see and my actions are not necessarily correlated with the fruit in my life I can see with my eyes. If I see good fruit, that doesn’t necessarily mean I did it right. If I see bad fruit, that doesn’t necessarily mean I did it wrong. Like I said, sometimes I remember this–but most of the time I don’t.

Father, help me to love my neighbor as myself. Help me to not return bad with bad. Help me to not take an eye when my eye is taken. I’m not saying I should just allow others to walk all over me, undermine me, etc. But I am saying that, while I can put up some reasonable boundaries, it doesn’t mean I cannot love them at the same time. And thank you again for loving me way beyond what I deserve. Thank you for not taking revenge out upon me for all of the times I failed you.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen