If you love those who love you, do you deserve a reward? Even the tax collectors do that!
Matthew 5:46
Love, according to Jesus, isn’t picky. It’s not just for the lovable ones, but it’s gotta be given to the unlovable as well. If you only love those who love you back, then what good is love to a world that is dying? Jesus put it this way: “If you love those who love you, do you deserve a reward? Even the tax collectors do that! Are you doing anything remarkable if you welcome only your friends? Everyone does that!” (Matt. 5:46–47). Love doesn’t exclude people who don’t love you back. It includes them all, even your enemies. Jesus made that clear when he said, “But I tell you this: Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:44).
So what do you think? Can you do it? Can you love someone who is out to get you? Someone who wants to hurt you? If not, Jesus asks, then what good is your love? The God Girl loves others not because of who they are or what they do but because of who God is and what he has done.
When you learn to look at life from this perspective, what people do to you or around you doesn’t hurt you like it used to. When your number one goal isn’t getting the attention you want but giving the love God commands, you can no longer be pulled down or hurt by anyone. God gives you the answer for bullies, mean girls, angry people, and the cruel world, and that answer is love. Just love. Love them. Hurt when they hurt, pray for them, care for them, and give to them, but above all love them as if God demanded it, because he does.