Jesus, throughout His journey on earth, constantly talked about love, especially the concept of love your enemy. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:43-45). Well this is definitely easier said than done. How am I supposed to love those who persecute me? They surely don’t deserve it. That goes back to another issue: why does God love us when we so don’t deserve it? When we sin, we become enemy of God. Yet He loves us so much that He died for us on the cross to bring us back to Him, to have fellowship with Him like how it was designed to be at the beginning of time in the Garden. If He loves us that much, then who are we not to love our enemy? “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

Joyce Meyer was sexually abused by her own father, yet when she became an adult, she treated him with love and care. She helped him with the house, brought him back to her life, and took care of him as a regular loving daughter. How did she do that? The families of the victims killed by the shooting in Charleston stood up in court, spoke to the judge, and told the murderer they have forgiven him. How did they do that? Obviously this kind of love cannot come from this world. This kind of love is so big that the world knows not of. This kind of love, or if I may call unconditional love, comes only from God above. Only He can love like that. And because He loved Joyce, she loves her father. Because He loved the families of the victims, they too love the shooter. This love is contagious, like a domino effect. Once we have received and tasted how wonderful this unconditional love is from God, we can’t help it but spreading it around to love and forgive others, even those who don’t deserve but desperately need it more than anything.

That’s the true meaning behind love your enemy. It’s more than just saying hi to the kids we don’t like at schools, staying cordial with the colleagues and bosses we can’t tolerate at work. Love your enemy is taking action to actually love and forgive others, especially those that hurt us and persecute us. It’s the choice we have to make every day to love and to forgive. During the most difficult time of my life when my mom passed away and my dad went bankrupt and ran away, one of my uncles said the most hurtful thing to me, blaming the death of my mom on me, the 17-year-old teenager at the time. It wasn’t nice what he said. But I have to make a conscious decision every day to love and forgive him. Not because I’m righteous and perfect, but simply because God loves me and forgives me every day. If He loves me that much, the least I can do is to love somebody else. If God forgives me for all of my sins when I become his enemy, the least I can do is to forgive my own enemies.

The first time I got to know God is through the power of prayer and faith when He provided and rescued me out of my despair and hopelessness. I knew at that time that He is the Almighty God who can do anything. He can move the mountain, part the sea, and do what man calls impossible. Since then my journey with God has been great. I was taught at church and countless Bible studies about love and what it means in the Christian context. At one of the Bible study, we were examining the difference between Philos (brotherly love between man) and Agape (unconditional love from God). But it’s not until I faced the most scary trial of my life that I really understood and felt God’s unconditional love for the first time. Out of my fear, shame, and guilt, I received His unconditional love through the forgiveness of sin. And I’m eternally grateful for that. How He could look at me blameless and call me righteous I will never understand. But I know that the moment I sincerely asked for forgiveness, forgiveness was given to me freely, and He looked at me as if I have never sinned. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

I understand the concept of salvation with my mind, but that unconditional love touched my heart and made me truly appreciate what Jesus did for me on the cross that day. I don’t deserve any of it, yet He still died for me, forgives me, and loves me anyway. The love like this is so big that the world knows not of. Throughout my journey with God and even before I knew Him, He has provided many many blessings for me and got me through so many trials. But the two things that I still cannot get over until this day are the scholarship to college that saved my life and His unconditional love through the forgiveness of sin. These gifts are are like fire burning inside my heart to show me how much He loves me and that I need to do something to give back what He has done for me. No matter how many people I touch, how many good works I do, it will never be enough comparing to what He has given me. But I have to share this love that I freely and gratefully receive, desperately need, but never deserve.

John 8 tells the story about a woman committed adultery. By the Law of Moses, she would be stoned to death, and she deserved it. That’s the consequence of her sin, the decision she made for her life. But all Jesus said was “go and sin no more.” It didn’t mention in Scripture how she felt at that time, but I can only imagine: fear, shame, guilt, and unconditional love at the same time. It didn’t mention in the text but I assume that deep down inside, she really regretted her sin, disgusted by it, never ever wanted to do it again, and desperately asked God for His forgiveness. And then her prayer got answered. She was forgiven; her sin was washed white as snow as if it has never happened at the first place. Her sin was forgiven, deleted, erased, forgotten, washed away, gone, no more. I deserve to be stoned to death, but all He said was “go and sin no more.” We deserve to be stoned to death, but He voluntarily took that burden on Himself that day when He walked to the cross.

When we sincerely ask for the forgiveness of our sin and never ever want to do it again, as long as we are SINCERE about it, God already forgives us. He will look at us blameless and righteous as if it has never happened, just as He looked at Christ because we are covered under the blood of Jesus. God will never bring it back and hold us accountable for that sin anymore. The only one that will ever bring it back to accuse us of the sin, to make us feel shameful, guilty, filthy, and unworthy is Satan. His goal is to steal, kill, and destroy Christians. So when the moment comes, we have to stay strong and believe in God’s word when He told us He has already forgiven us. Spiritual warfare will take place as we serve God; trials are promised to us as we start our walk with God and give our lives to Him. “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4: 12-13). When I started serving God to bless somebody else, immediately spiritual warfare took place. Satan reminded me of the sin in the past and whispered his lies in my ears about why I’m not worthy to serve God by serving others. Constantly I had to remind myself the verse in 1 John 1:9 to continue my mission to serve God. Our lives are the battlefield, and we should expect that the moment we give our lives to Christ and follow Him. But the good news here is that Christ has already won the battle, overcome Satan and this world. So we just have to continue the fight, faithfully submit to God, knowing that victory is already on our side.