“I say, love your enemies…”

May 2010

Jesus said, "But if you are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for the happiness of those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you." (Luke 6:27).

 

One of the more difficult commands of Jesus is to not only love our neighbour, but love our enemies. It just isn't instinctive. It seems to go against every principle we've grown up with to protect ourselves from those who wish us harm, either physically or emotionally. It seems unnatural to care for our enemies and even bless them. Yet this is what the person whom we follow commands us to do.

 

It takes a great deal of faith and trust to do this. The Holy Spirit must radically renew our minds and hearts, and then our minds and hearts must trust that God will honour our behaviour. But it feels like really going out into uncomfortable and unnatural territory, doesn't it?

To treat an enemy well runs the risk of them possibly taking advantage of us, of them getting the upper hand, of our accounts being so out of balance that we end up even more vulnerable than when we first felt we were offended.

Treating an enemy well means that we have decided, in faith, that God is the keeper of our enemy's account as well as our own. The judgment isn't ours to make, that's God's job. Our task is, in faith, to love and to forgive - difficult as that is.  Human logic won't reach this conclusion. Only faith can.

 

How do you treat your enemies? Perhaps you don't have any - congratulations! But what about those who rub you up the wrong way, annoy or irritate - how do you treat them? Do you hold grudges? Do you look for ways to avoid them? Do you secretly hope that God will humble them and vindicate you? Perhaps He will.

 

If you really believe in His goodness, if you put your faith into action, you will allow Him to handle those things on your behalf. You will then be free to behave with extraordinary and outrageous grace, blessing those who curse you, giving to those who have cheated you or complimenting those who have insulted you.

Making life difficult and uncomfortable for others just isn't an option for those who follow Jesus, no matter how natural and instinctive that seems. That tells God that we don't trust His ability to act on our behalf or in His justice.

 

Treating an enemy well honours his gracious and loving will. Only in this way will the world be transformed and only by this way of living will there be peace, just as God has wanted since the beginning of creation.

 

Are we willing and able, in faith, to follow this most difficult of Jesus' commands?  I do hope so, for Jesus' sake.

 

With every blessing.   Paul

 

 

 

 

 

© Copyright Hatfield Church / Tim Sweed 2008