Skip to main content

Don't Be The Enemy


      Mt 5:22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. (Matthew 5:22)

But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? (Matthew 5:44-46)

          You mean, love the Conservatives or Liberals or the extremists of some other category who "are determined to destroy our country"? You mean, love those abusive, angry, egotistical, entitled, hateful, hypocritical, intolerant, lazy, murderous, narcissistic, oppressive, self-righteous, selfish, violent individuals who "don't deserve to be called human beings"? Love the psychopathics who kill children? Love the pedophile? Love the person who burns or walks on the flag? Love the ones who destroy their own community for the sake of attention? Love the tyrant who shoves his own philosophy down your throat? Love the racist (of whatever race) or sexist (of whatever sex)  or idealog (of whatever ideology) who wants to keep you in "your place"? According to Jesus, that's how we may be the sons of our Father in heaven.
           What does it mean to love our enemies? Jesus told us that the Father causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteousness. Loving our enemies requires that we extend to them the same general grace that we extend to those who are not our enemies. It means we do not deny them their humanity. We do not mock them. We do not ridicule them. We do not insult them. We do as much as we can to accommodate them until or unless it involves violating what God has commanded us to do.
          Loving our enemy does not involve granting that enemy special favor any more than forgiving involves saying that the injury forgiven wasn't wrong. It does not free the enemy from the consequences of his action or his beliefs. It does involve not permitting the enemy to control your actions toward him or any more than is necessary. It's not necessarily about allowing someone who means to do you harm into your home. It is about not letting that person's wish to do you harm turn you into someone who wishes to do him/her harm. You might actually be in a position in which it is necessary to restrain, harm or even kill him, but loving your enemy means that such is not your preference or your source of (anticipated) joy. Instead, your anticipated joy should be in turning that enemy into a friend, even if it costs you everything except your principles and your enemy nothing.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In the Sky:
New Moon

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more