Love Like God Does by His Grace
David W Palmer
(Matthew 5:44 APE) “But I say to you, love your enemies and bless the one who curses you, and do what is beautiful to the one who hates you, and pray over those who take you by force and persecute you.”
Practicing Jesus’s expectation to love—even our enemies—is not easy; so we, the professed followers of Jesus, often grasp for excuses to not obey him. Rather than believe we can—by God’s amazing grace—be good and even perfect in the realm of love, we choose to adhere to slogans like: “I’m not perfect, just forgiven!” But is God happy with us having this self-image? Our wonderful Lord, Savior, and role model has something definitive to say about this:
(Matthew 5:48 CSB) “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
“Be perfect?” Is this really what Jesus expects of us? Let’s read some more of what he said in this context for a deeper understanding:
(Matthew 5:43–48 DKJV) “You have heard that it was said, ‘“you shall love your neighbour,” and hate your enemy’ (Lev. 19:18). {44} But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you. {45} This way, you will prove to be children of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. {46} For if you love only those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do that? {47} And if you greet by invoking peace on your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Don’t even the tax collectors do that? {48} Therefore, be completely perfect [in love], just as your Father in heaven is completely perfect [in love].
When we look at this in context, we see that Jesus’s topic is love at the level that proves you to be God’s child—a replica of Father and his love:
(Ephesians 5:1 NKJV) Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.
So when he says, “be perfect,” he is contextually saying, “Be perfect in love as your heavenly Father is perfect in love.” From all that we have seen in this book, and the other books in this series, we know that God has poured his own love into our hearts (Rom. 5:5), and that he expects us to overflow it onto others. This is obviously not done in our own strength; this is where God’s grace—the divine influence on the heart and its reflection in the life—comes in.
God’s grace is amazing. These are some of the outcomes of grace that the apostle Paul wrote of:
(Romans 12:3 ESV) For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you …
(Romans 12:6 NKJV) Having then gifts (graces) differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith. (Parenthesis mine)
(1 Corinthians 3:10 NKJV) According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.
(1 Corinthians 15:10 NKJV) But by the grace of God I am what I am.
(1 Corinthians 15:10a NKJV—10b NLT) But by the grace of God I am what I am … and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.
(Romans 5:2 NKJV) Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
(2 Corinthians 12:9–10 NLT) Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in w
