Matthew·Love·17 of 34
Love without a border
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
Matthew 5:44 · King James Version
An enemy is a person your mind has placed outside love. The saying moves the border.
An inner reading
This is not a request to feel fondness on command, or to remain near what is cruel. An enemy, inwardly, is an image you have refused to reconcile — someone held outside the circle of good. Christ does not ask you to pretend a wound was not a wound. He asks you to stop feeding the image the only food it lives on: your agreement that the other is beyond love.
Blessing, doing good, and praying are practices of attention. They return the mind to the Father, where the other is still held, instead of to the courtroom where you are both trapped. Love here is not an emotion you wait to possess. It is the decision to see from the kingdom rather than from the injury.