In his book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “Do not waste your time bothering whether you love your neighbor. Act as if you do. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.”

What is love? Love is caring for people even though they may not deserve it. Think of that person in your life that you absolutely despise, the one who has taken advantage of you, mocked you, or made life miserable for you. Jesus tells us that we’re supposed to embrace that person, going out of our way to make his life easier.

Now this isn’t what we were always taught, but this is the definition of Christ-like love. You see, love doesn’t begin with a warm feeling. It’s awfully easy to love those people we agree with, who make our life better with their presence. It’s difficult to be nice to those who are miserable and mean.

But, when you have trouble loving that person, remember Jesus on the cross. He went out of His way to redeem those who mocked, jeered, and laughed at Him. You and I were in that crowd. And yet, He didn’t wait until we were reformed or more agreeable or friendly towards Him. The Bible says, “that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Ask God to give you the strength to love your enemies today, whoever they may be.