Supernatural Love-Matthew 5:43-48

Love for Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This is probably one of the most characteristic parts of true believers--They'll Know We are Christians By Our Love.is a hymn based on this passage and many others like it (I've linked to a slightly modernized version of the hymn).  Such love is not natural, and it obvious to others that something within us has changed from the way we used to be before Christ.  It is so much so that sometimes this is enough to help us as Christians identify one another without even needing to say anything else.

But "love" like so many other words has been perverted by the world to mean something that it's not. Here Jesus tells us love everyone, even if they don't love us, because this is the way the Father in heaven loved us.  John 3:16 tells us, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life."  God did not wait for us to love Him before He loved us and gave the ultimate sacrifice.  If we only love those who love us, we could easily be mistaken for the pagans (the ungodly) in this world who already live by that code, but we are called to a high standard--to have a perfect love like that of the Father that points people to Him and glorifies Him in all that we do.