"If Jesus calls us to love our enemies, what does it mean to love those white supremacists in Charlottesville?"

Over on Facebook, Dennis Sanders asked: "So if Jesus calls us to love our enemies, what does it mean to love those supremacists in Charlottesville?"

I responded:

Here's what I think. 

Love doesn't mean endorsement or indulgence. 

It means standing firm on God's Word for the sake of others. 

It means calling people to repentance and new life through Jesus. 

It means praying that those who hate will be transformed by grace through faith in Christ. 

It means inviting those who hate to join the rest of we recovering sinners who make up the Church in laying our sins at the foot of Christ's cross and submitting to the Holy Spirit's project of making us new.

By the way, Jesus gave, the command for Christians to love their enemies most famously in His Sermon on the Mount, when He said:

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your friends, hate your enemies.’ But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may become the children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil.  (Matthew 5:43-45)

[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]