There is Freedom in Forgiving Your Enemies

What's Love Got To Do With It?
Technically, we aren't being asked to like the other person, because that would require an emotion that we sometimes can't conjure up, despite our best intentions. But in effect we are to treat them as though we like them--because that's a decision of our will.
We don't have to approve of what they are, what they've done, or how they conduct their affairs, but we are to love who they are--people who matter to God, just like you and me. People who failed but who are eligible for God's forgiving grace.
In fact, the Bible says, "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Amazingly, God's response to our rebellion against Him wasn't to declare war on us as His enemies. Instead, returned love for evil so the path could be paved for us to get back on good terms with Him. And that's the kind of love He wants to extend to those who have crossed us.

Our Forgiveness Attracts Others
"If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?" Jesus asked. There's nothing particularly commendable about loving those who already care about us. Everybody does that. But when someone offers love to a person who has been an enemy, the world takes notice. People are pointed toward God as being the only source of motivation for this kind of outrageous compassion.

Seeking God's Assistance
If you're having trouble letting go of your animosity or bitterness, tell God about it. Admit your reluctance and ask him to help you deal with your resentment, hostility, and anger. Ask God for the capacity to love the person you don't even like.

When you do that, here's what you'll discover: your attitude toward your opponent will begin to change.

Radically Shifting Our Perspective
Normally, we evaluate the worth of people based on their relationship to us. Can they help us? Can they hurt us? But when we choose instead to see them from the perspective of their value to God, we begin to recognize that they have supreme worth because they bear God's image, even though it's distorted and obscured by sin. When we start seeing them as people who matter to God, they begin to matter more to us.
We don't have to condone what they've done to us. But what we must do is forgive the person because they are etched with the likeness of God and because they matter to God every bit as much as you do. You don't have to affirm what they did to you, but affirm that person as an individual--the handiwork of the Creator of the universe.


Reference: God's Outrageous Claims by Lee Strobel (p.12, 20, 22, 24)