"If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?" (Matthew 5:46)
Even the lost and corrupt (the "tax collectors" of this world) find it easy and natural to love those who love them. They dote on their family members, they care for their friends. They give and receive affection. It is only natural! People are conditioned to respond in that way, and well they should.
We followers of the Lord Jesus have a chance to go beyond that natural exchange, to rise above the conditioned response. We have an opportunity to love supernaturally, ESPECIALLY when our generous words and acts of kindness are unmerited and unrequited. Be encouraged:
. . . my beloved [daughter], be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Cor. 15:58).
