¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

Committed Christian living is comprehensive, and love draws a large circle. We are called upon to interact with all kinds of people at all stages of their lives. Paul first addresses those who are most difficult to love—those who persecute us as Christians—and instructs us that our knee-jerk reaction should not be to curse them, but to bless them. This is not unique to Paul’s teaching. The Lord Jesus taught:

“But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also.Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.”(Matt 5:39–42)

Also, Peter wrote:

Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation…. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. (1 Peter 2:12, 20)

Further, we should be willing to connect emotionally with people, even the unsaved. Of course, we need to be careful of being “friends” with the world (see James 4:4) in the sense of finding our emotional and social needs being met by the unsaved. But we should be quick to meet the emotional and social needs of our unsaved neighbors and associates. The passage does not distinguish between believers and non-believers (“those who persecute you”). We can never have a spiritual impact on the unsaved if we remain emotionally disconnected and distant from them. As believers, we should be happy with them when they experience good things, and we should feel it deeply when they suffer pain, hardships, losses and grief. For our own needs, we should look to believers, but for the world around us, we cannot present ourselves as being aloof to their felt needs and feelings.

Yes, justified believers are free from the need to impress God with our good works, and at liberty to connect with the unsaved at a deeply human level.

Lord, help me to be real as I reach out to my unbelieving family and friends.