My Lovable Enemy

The Message version of this scripture text is wonderful and revealing

“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. (Matthew 5:43-44)

Love your enemies! How counter intuitive is that? It certainly is not instinctual, but God does command us to do this. What might that look like? There are a few questions that come to mind right away.

• Who is my enemy? "Someone who gives you a hard time..."
• Why are they the enemy? "they are good and bad, nice and nasty..."
• How do I love them? "respond with the energies of prayer..."
• Why should I love them? "Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst..."

Is the opposing team my enemy? Is the neighbor who installed a 6' fence around his yard my enemy? How about the person who hit my car and left the scene? Is he or she my enemy? How about those people who don't agree with me, my politics, my life-style, my profession?  Just who is the enemy...and why?

Is it the unsolicited phone caller telling you that your vehicle warranty is about to expire, but they will renew it for you over the phone...or is the third caller of the day telling you they are concerned about your student loan...or my favorite - "I am calling from Microsoft and we have detected a virus on your computer..." These unpleasant interruptions feel like attacks from the enemy. They hint of wrong doing or at the very least untruths.

By not allowing these intrusions to spoil our day, by maybe even speaking a kind or gentle word to them, we are loving our enemies. I must try that the next time I receive a call.

“The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.”
― G.K. Chesterton

“In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” (Matthew 5:48 MSG)

Matthew 5:43-48

Real Love Can't Be Faked

Romans 12:9-21 The Message (MSG)

^9-10 Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

^11-13 Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

^14-16 Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

^17-19 Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”

^20-21 Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

I have been mulling over today’s scripture passage all week.   I have read it from different translations and prayed over it.  Last week I talked to you about trusting God and how I have struggled trusting for most of my life.  I love God and have always desired to serve Him, but I have also struggled with trusting Him with everything.

This week’s passage is a direct reflection of where I still struggle with trusting God.  Our passage for today talks about loving with sincerity, laughing with those who laugh, crying with those who cry, not seeking revenge, serving our enemy, helping those in need and on and on.

Don’t get me wrong it is an AMAZING passage!  I love what Paul is teaching us here, but it is SO hard if you struggle with trusting God.  I’m seeing how important it is to believe and trust that God loves me and will take care of me, in order to live out this passage. 

If we know who we are in Christ, we can let people in and allow them to get CLOSE.  Close enough to SINCERELY laugh and cry with them.  Close enough to be hurt by some.  Close enough to want to bless them when they do hurt us.  When we trust God, we will let people close and not throw judgement around like we know the whole story. 

Do you see why I have been praying about this passage all week?  It is not an easy one, but it is such an important lesson to learn.  I pray that you will be challenged by these words as well.

Friends and Enemies

Job 5:7 (NIV) Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
I wonder if the question, "With friends like this, who needs enemies?" didn't have its origin in the

book of Job. Job had three close friends who left everything to be with him when his world began to crumble. They sat with him for 7 days, in companionable silence, but I'll bet their minds were going a mile a minute.

When one did speak, the words began as comfort, emphasizing Job's good qualities. They soon turned the discussion to the probability that Job's misfortunes (putting it mildly) were a result of God's chastening of Job. Those must have been hurtful words. His friends were questioning what he had done to deserve all that was reigning down on him.

It is human nature to try and place blame for unexplainable pain and heart ache. His disciples asked him,“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2 NIV) Jesus' disciples asked Him much the same question. How many times have we wondered what we had done to deserve such treatment? Or, what someone else had done.

Job 5:8 (NIV) "But if it were I, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him.
What would I be thinking if all that fell upon Job, fell upon me? Would I be questioning my actions, pleading with God to show me the way out? Would I be on my knees begging for relief and mercy; for Him to make it all go away? The answer is probably 'yes' to all of it. Putting myself in Job's place gives me a new respect for the man. He didn't give up on God, he didn't desert or turn his back on God.

Job 5:9 (NIV) "He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted."

Job 5:1-9

Two enemies

“No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength.  A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save.  But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.”  Psalm 33:16-19

So which is worse?  A sworn enemy deepening in hatred and growing in numbers, or a nation slowly turning its back on God?  What we have on our hands, I’m afraid, is a sobering mixture of both.

Our nation has always fought to protect “our way of life,” especially our freedoms.  But our way of life has changed.  Drastically!  We’ve banned from the public square the God of “unfailing love,” the one who has sustained us throughout our history.  We’ve affirmed other “gods” as being his equal.  (“Pick the one that works for you!  They're all the same.”)  And as though robed and seated on a superior court, we’ve considered his moral judgments and overruled him.

So where do we turn?  What do we do?  We have the strongest military in history, but will God continue to protect a people who no longer fear him or hope in him? 

I think it begins with each of taking a good look inside, for that’s where God would reign as king.  Is my personal comfort each and every moment really the most important thing in the world, or are there higher callings for me today?  Is it OK to keep silent about my God, or is kinder to share him with those still searching?  Should I live in the security of personal isolation, or purposefully engage others who cross my paths today?  Should I continue to fashion a god to my liking and comfort, or should I submit myself and my will to the God of his revealing?  Should I doubt God and second-guess him, or do I trust and obey?

We should we be concerned about the enemy we see.  But we should be even more concerned about the enemy we don't see, the evil one who would destroy our souls. 

Personally, I think this is a time of true soul-searching and repentance.  It is a time for prayer – honest, open, confessing and petitioning prayer.  It is time to listen for the Spirit's voice and then to act.  It is a time to speak to those searching for hope, not words of condemnation, but words that point the way to God – words of truth, words of life in Jesus Christ, who is life itself.

Today and every today, listen ...
How is the Holy Spirit leading you to pray?  Pray that way; he will hear you.
Where is he opening doors to touch someone's life?  Walk through that door; he walks with you.
What truth is he telling you to speak?  Speak it freely; he will bring forth fruit.

And together let’s pray, “May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.”  Amen. 

[To see the daily reading, Psalm 33:12-22, click here.]