Love your enemy

"You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?  Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.  - Matthew 5.43-48

The teaching just keeps getting harder and harder. It keeps getting more and more difficult to understand. It seems like some of the things Jesus talked about are the things we talk about the least.

Here are words that sound totally foreign to our human, naturalistic ears. ‘Love your enemy. Bless those who curse you. Do good for people who hate you. Pray for the people who persecute you and despitefully use you. Anybody can love those who love them. What good is it if you only treat your brethren well? Anyone can do that.’

It is hard to read anything else more into this than what it says.

How are we really supposed to do this? How do we love our enemy? How do we do good to people who hate us?  How do we really, truly pray for our persecutors?

Logic tells me it is okay to hate my enemy. Logic tells me that it is okay to repay evil with hatred. Logic tells me that praying for my persecutor is beyond what can reasonably be expected.

So who do I trust? Do I trust my own human logic or do I trust Christ and obey Him?

I don’t know how all this plays out in international affairs and wars and things like that. I tend to think that there are principles that we need to apply there as well.

But rather than debate this I need to examine what it means to me on a personal basis. Anyone can love those who love him. Anyone can pray for those who treat him well. Anyone can repay kindness with goodness. The challenge is to do those things when people are not kind or loving or attack and persecute us.

One of the greatest tests of our testimony is how we act in the face of opposition. Our response can have an impact that we can’t even imagine.

Think about how often situations would be diffused if God’s people responded this way. There really is no answer for loving your enemy. He can’t win if you love him in response to his actions. When we are cursed and mocked and revile what would happen if we responded with love and blessings? What would happen if, instead of seeking revenge, we prayed for those who attacked us? Do you think we would see an impact for Christ?

Here is a simple practice test. The next time someone cuts you off in traffic does something stupid on the road instead of inwardly cursing them choose to pray for them and their family. Pray that God would keep them safe on the road and keep others safe from their driving. Choose godly thoughts over sinful ones.

Who knows? Eventually we may to apply that to all the difficult people we have to face.