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Just good deeds or genuine love?
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus counseled not just his immediate audience but all of us for all time, “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).
And in an article titled “Love Your Enemies” (see Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, pp. 8–13), Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, offers insight into this directive. She writes, for instance, “ ‘Love thine enemies’ is identical with ‘Thou hast no enemies,’ ” and “Simply count your enemy to be that which defiles, defaces, and dethrones the Christ-image that you should reflect.”
This is something for us to demonstrate in our lives through understanding and actively responding to the leadings of God—divine Principle, Love—the source and substance of all reality. Through Eddy’s thorough exploration of this topic, we see that the enemy is never a person. Instead, the enemy is whatever in thought would have us believe that there is any person, thing, or situation that can prevent us from seeing the Christ ideal in another—or in ourselves.
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