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. Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:43-45, 48.

Those are not just words and Jesus lived those words to the very end of His life on this earth with us, showing us His and the Father’s love for us. He loved and forgave those calling for His death and those nailing Him to the cross.

In our chapter, Esther 7, the true motives of Haman are finally revealed to Xerxes by Esther. “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life – that is my petition. And spare my people – that is my request. For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.” v. 3-4.

It was up to Xerxes now just as it was up to Xerxes to allow that scheme of Haman’s to go forward. What about us?

In The Chosen 40 Days with Jesus Book Three (Day 3) which highlighted the first Scripture, I loved this: Truth is, there’s only one way to pursue perfection and that’s by cultivating a deep and abiding prayer life with the Father. In other words, reverse-engineer the command because we can only love those we’d prefer to hate if we pray for holiness and intercede on our enemies’ behalf. When we do, something altogether miraculous happens: we begin to see love through an eternal lens in which “all things work together for good, for those who are called according to (God’s) purpose” (Romans 8:28). Incidentally, once we recognize the real enemy at work, we quit trying to revise God’s commands to justify our hatred for other people.

A tall order. Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect…that we may be children of our Father in heaven. Not without God who is Love. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because it has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18. Perfect Love. The Father.

The Father loves Haman and He loves us. Haman’s earthly life ended that day. One day our earthly life will end too. Our Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit – will be there and we will have much to learn and unlearn. That’s okay. We are held in His love and safe in our Home in God. We are His children whom He created in His image and loves. All of us. As we are now, we are not very good image bearers of our Father. Neither was Haman, Xerxes, or the ones calling for Jesus’s death or nailing Him to the cross and guess what? He loves them. He loves them still. Thank You, Lord, for so great a Love.