This season on the Straight Truth Podcast, Dr. Richard Caldwell and host, Dr. Josh Philpot are before a live audience seeking to answer questions that are on their hearts and minds. The question asked in this episode reflects a desire to rightly understand how to apply Matthew 5:43-48. The questioner asks, what is the best way to love their enemies while attempting to surround themselves with truthful, godly influencers?

Dr. Caldwell shares the passage and then tells us that a couple of things stand out. One of those things is that something more is expected of us as believers, something that exceeds that which we will see in those who do not know the Lord. He explains that what Jesus points out is that there is a standard that believers are called to that is different than just loving those who love us.

In salvation, we are given the capacity to love in a way that exceeds what we knew before knowing Christ. Whatever love we are called to express pictures that of our heavenly Father. This point also is expressed in this passage. Jesus goes on to give examples of how God does this. God goes on loving His enemies, and He is our model for us to do likewise. We are to demonstrate His likeness in loving our enemies.

How To Go About Loving Our Enemies

But how are we to do this? How are we to go about loving our enemies while not surrounding ourselves with people who would discourage us or influence us wrongly in our walks? Dr. Caldwell says that he believes the key to this is understanding what it means to love our enemies. This means that there must be a difference between friendship with lost people that aims for the conversion of their souls, their salvation, versus friendship with lost people that would reflect fellowship. Dr. Caldwell goes on to explain what he means by this for a saved individual.

Our ambition as a saved person is to please God, and that is not a lost man’s ambition. Our aims and goals are no longer the same; our friendships and fellowship now belong with other believers. Yet this does not mean that we hate those that do not belong to Jesus and that we cut ourselves off from them. Our hearts ought to be that of compassion and desire towards them for their reconciliation to God.

We have the privilege and opportunity to share the gospel with those that are lost, that one day, we might have a friendship with them in a profoundly different way. We need to see those outside our fellowship through the eyes of the gospel, desiring for them to come to know and love God, that they would be reconciled to their Creator.

Be Perfect

Therefore, as verse 48 tells us to be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect, this is to be our aim. God loves His enemies and does good to them. We cannot do this perfectly, yet that is still our aim. We are to be loving and reflect our Father’s character. We are to go about living our lives in His image, desiring the salvation of our enemies, and doing good for them. Often this will go beyond our strength and ability, but never beyond what God calls us to and supplies us with.