Jonah 3:10-4:11 (ESV) & Matt. 5:43-48 (ESV) - As we have explored Jesus’ teaching from the Sermon on the Mount, He’s shown us what the Law of God really calls us to do. Always we have seen that love for the Lord means going far beyond what our contemporaries are content to call righteousness, but we have also seen that our Father in Heaven has empowered His people to obey Him when they call upon Him for help. And if there’s an area of the Christian life where we need the Lord’s special help, it’s when He calls us to count our enemies as our neighbors and to love them. That is something so thoroughly against our human nature, it almost doesn’t make sense. Why would we love people who hate us? How are we supposed to love people who persecute us? As we prepare to hear the Lord speak through Matthew 5:43-48, let us pray that He would show us, His sons and daughters in Christ, to love others like He loves them and like He loves us.