Saturday 20 February

Deutoronomy 26:16-19, Ps.119A, Matthew 5:43-48

Loving

“Love your enemies” is easy to say, but far from easy to do. Loving and being kind to our own whanau comes easily and naturally. Likewise kindness to friends isn’t too hard. Kindness to strangers comes a little harder but we all try, some with heroic achievement, others more modestly so. But actually loving — being kind to … our enemies goes right against the grain. As Jesus suggests, that requires “perfection,” something we may aspire to, but rarely achieve. Jesus raised the bar on what it means to “love.” We may not reach it, but I hope God will give us points for trying!