Unbounded Love

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy,'  But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  For if you love those who love you, what rewards do you have?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others?  Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."  --Matthew 5:43-48

A lawyer asked him a question to test him a question to test him: "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"  Jesus said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments hang all of the law and the prophets."  --Matthew 22:35-40

"I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another."  --John 13:34-35

"Beloved, let love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love . . . God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, as God abides in them."  --1 John 4:7-8, 16

The power of God is the power of unbounded love; in biblical language, agape love.  The most common expression for this in the New Testament is the verb agapao. This is the self-giving, ever-welcoming  love of God that we see and experience in Jesus.  It is actively given. Unbounded love is the only power that can save us in a world where love is constantly shackled.

Jesus' self-giving was not hindered by the cross, by the threat of death, or by its reality.  God's love for all (in particular, enemies) is poured out toward a future that is the promised fulfillment of God's unbounded love.  We live together, in faith, toward that promise.

An insight from the first scripture above, the command to love enemies, is that the term translated "perfect" (as in "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect") is better translated as "whole" or "complete." In essence: Be whole, complete, as God is.  This means being complete in love--a love that leaves no one out!

How does the revelation that God's love has no limits (in John's language, that "God is love") impact how you perceive and understand God? How does it impact how you read the Bible?   What does it mean for the church in its ministry?
And here is the really good inquiry, the "acid test," if you will;  Can you give me some practical examples of "loving your enemy," from your own experience?