We must expand our circle of inclusion to take in the uncomplimentary, the uncouth, the unlovely, and yes, even the unclean, if we are to live to honor the words from Christ’s sermon. We must be honest and admit that the level of love under which we operate is insufficient to include those who don’t like us, or those who won’t tolerate us, or those who don’t hold us in the high esteem that we have developed in our spheres of familiarity. 2. What good is it to love those who love you?The question comes from Matthew 5:46-47 and its parallel in Luke 6:32-34 (Combined) For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye, what thank have ye? Do not even the publicans the same, for sinners also love those that love them? And if ye salute your brethren only, if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans and sinners so? If ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. This Scripture has had many applications, most of which have been applied to the duty of Christians to feed the poor and clothe the naked and destitute. The dedicated Christian has done well in these areas, but, however applicable these Scriptures may be, let’s look at it another way. It must be admitted that we Christians like to play in our own backyard. We hang around those who don’t challenge us, we cling to those who accept us as we are, and we give a wide berth to those who are willing to criticize us. We claim we avoid those who find fault in us, because they do not love us. The truth is that we simply don’t love them. We can’t seem to love an enemy; we can only love our friends. We don’t love them enough to like them, nor like them enough to love them. This deficiency is sometimes camouflaged as an enviable character trait. We pride ourselves on being easygoing, non-controversial, or a person who opposes confrontational issues, when in reality we lack an ability to love those who don’t readily agree with us, so we overlook the differences, redefine words and assume the kindest of motives on the part of our detractors. We cannot love someone who doesn’t agree with us so we don’t bring up certain subjects, or say that “it doesn’t matter” or that the disagreement is “majoring on minors.” We know within ourselves that we can’t love those who are different than us so we make efforts to avoid them. It that goodness? Is that kindness? Is that honest? We must expand our circle of inclusion to take in the uncomplimentary, the uncouth, the unlovely, and yes, even the unclean, if we are to live to honor the words from Christ’s sermon. We must be honest and admit that the level of love under which we operate is insufficient to include those who don’t like us, or those who won’t tolerate us, or those who don’t hold us in the high esteem that we have developed in our spheres of familiarity. You should ask yourself, “Do I like only those who like me? Am I willing to take social risks only with those who are familiar with my accomplishments or my social status? Do I have what it takes to hold my own in the world that doesn’t know ‘who’ I am?” Do you have within you the love required to love those who are not impressed by you – to love those who do not rate you above them? Sometimes this character flaw shows in our speech, our manner of dress, our deportment or even more subtle behavior...

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