Our relationships with those around us are integrally tied to our relationship with God. I think God designed us that way to imitate His own unity. As we look at the shift Jesus poses in these verses we can see the way our love for others, even those who seem to be against us, should oppose the way the world says to love. That task can feel impossible to see played out in our lives unless we get at the heart of Jesus’ instruction.
Even though not everyone will come to know Jesus and become a child of God, from God’s love for us we are all created in the image of God. As children of God, the image-of-God-ness in every human being removes any barrier for love to break through. There is inherent and undeserved value, beauty, and worth placed inside every human being, before we even know the God who gave us that value. That reminder instantly flips my perspective in even the most difficult of circumstances and relationships.
How deep is God’s love to infiltrate even the most callous parts of our hearts? How wide is God’s love to instill His own image in every single human being? How great of a length does God’s love go to even reach us at our furthest from Him? How high does God’s love reach to give us an ability to display His love beyond our own abilities?