But I say to you, love your enemies

But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:43–48 Jesus wants you to love your enemies and so prove yourself to be what you are—a child of God. That is, show you are a child of God by acting the way your Father acts. If you are his, then his character is in you, and you will be inclined to do what he does. God loves his enemies—the evil and the unrighteous—in sending rain and sunshine on them instead of instant judgment.

Matthew 5:16, Let your light shine before others in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

"He is your Father." notice that when people see the good in your good works (like loving your enemies), they give glory to the Father. Why? Because the Father is in you helping them and enabling you to do the good works. So Jesus is saying that God is your Father, and this is the very reason that you can do the loving works He would have you do. The light that you let shine IS the light of the Father's love within you.

The other reason Jesus means that loving your enemies is not the cause but the evidence of you having God as your Father comes from Matthew 7:11–12. If you then, being profoundly immoral, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to you who ask Him!

So here again Jesus is telling you that God—even though you are imperfect in your love He stands more ready to give you the help you need than you are to give your own children help when they ask.

Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law.

The word "therefore" is crucial here. God will answer your prayers and take care of you . . . THEREFORE, love others the way you want to be loved. In other words, Jesus makes your love for others the result or fruit of God's fatherly love for you, not the payment you make to become his children.

So when Jesus says, in Matthew 5:44, "But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, 45 in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven," he does not mean that loving your enemies earns you the right to be a child of His. You can't earn the status of a child. You can be born into it. You can be adopted into it. You can't work your way into it. Jesus means that loving your enemies shows that God has already become your Father, and that the only reason you are able to love your enemies is because He loves you and has met your needs first.