Christians love saying things like, “You love your neighbor.” The problem arises when your neighbor is your enemy.

Where they have a differing ideological view, maybe a different political view, maybe a different theological view. And it’s very easy to go, “Well it’s us and them.” You make them “other” and then you separate yourself and that’s where division comes. And we remember that division is never of God, division is of the devil.

People would say it’s hard to love your enemy. I actually think it’s very easy. You do the same acts of kindness. You treat them with fairness. You treat them with justice. The same way you would treat your friends. So I think loving your enemy is much more easy than being fond of your enemy. You have to remember this, that Jesus died for me while I was still caught in my transgression and my sin. So He died for me and He rose for me when I was His enemy. And so His act of great love is being crucified and nailed to a tree and then rising victorious three days later. And that’s great. That’s amazing. But what astounds me even more is that God is actually fond—hear that word—fond of me. And He’s fond of you.

And so I think the way that we deal with division is we go a step further than love and we say, you know what? I’m not just going to love you practically. I’m going to be fond of you. I’m going to desire your time, I’m going to desire relationship. I’m going to desire giving of myself so that you can have more of your life.

So, let’s not just love people like Jesus. Let’s be fond of people like Jesus.

#HopeOnDemand