But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. Matthew 5:44-46, NLT

I witnessed a marriage ceremony in which the officiant charged the couple to “be Christ to each other.” It was the highest bar I have ever heard set for marital love, although I realize that is essentially what the ubiquitous “love passage” (1 Corinthians 13) describes.

I was contemplating this concept of “being Christ to each other” when considering what to write on my 33rd Valentine’s Day card to my dear wife. I don’t remember what I wrote on most of the cards over the years but I suspect that many of them were full of reasons, pertaining to her, that I love her. I could list many!

But as I thought this time about “being Christ” to her in light of how Jesus loves me, I realized that the reasons have everything to do with things about Him and little, if anything, to do with things about me. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good… While I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me… He reached all the way down from His throne on high to become a part of His own creation, in order to rescue me!

Suddenly I got the inspiration for the card for my wife. I told her that I love her because I decided to, because I promised to, and because I am delighted to! And also because the Lord is doing a beautiful work in displaying His redemption in us and all around us. I wasn’t sure if this one would hit the mark, but it turns out that love that transcends changeable things about her is very romantic!

While marriage affords a particular opportunity for us to picture Christ’s love for the Church, the charge to “be Christ” to each other applies well beyond marriage. In fact, in the passage above from Matthew 5 and in a similar passage in Luke 6, Jesus points us to this kind of love for our enemies! He says that is what it is like to be children of the Father. Not for any reason about them, as though they deserve our love, but because His undeserved love can transform them just as it is transforming us!

Oh, Jesus, Your love is greater than any fortress, than any brokenness, than any rebellion. You can and do transform hearts by Your love and You are inviting us to do the same! Thank You, Jesus!!

Copyright Jere Vandewalle.

Jere is the Director of Operations for Christian Educators.