“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children 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. (Matthew 5:43-45)
“Imagine, all the people, living life in peace” (John Lennon)
If you know me, you know I detest the song I’ve quoted above, but there are people who think that it’s their anthem or at least the recipe for Utopia. I daresay Hitler wanted the world to be at peace, too, possibly every bit as much as Lennon did. His peace involved his dominion of the Germanic people, Germanic dominion over all else, and extermination of those individuals (Jews, Gypsies, the handicapped, etc.) who would stand in the way of Germans evolving into the Nordic gods.
It’s really no different today in our country. We have groups who want peace, but peace is defined as each of those groups being able to glorify themselves at the expense of anyone who disagrees with them. Of course, there’s a whole list of who is and is not acceptable, but “who is not acceptable” generally means “those who disagree with us.”
Jesus warned His disciples that this would be the case. The world would hate them, He said. If they didn’t hate the world, they would be hating Him. The world is full of wicked people, nearly all of whom think they are paragons of virtue and doing the right thing for the right reason in the only way possible. I’ve been told to go to hell by people who sing along with Lennon, “Imagine all the people, living life in peace….” The only way peace can exist is for everyone to laugh alike, walk alike, at all times even talk alike – and that “alike” must be according to that person’s rules. Otherwise, as Mrs. Clinton put it, “there can be no peace.” It’s difficult not to be like these folks. We love those who love us or who evoke our pity (because we can pat ourselves on the back for it.) We hate our enemies.
This is not what Jesus told us to do. Jesus told us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Most of us aren’t aware of the prayer needs of our friends half the time, let alone our enemies. My solution to this is that I pray the same basic prayer for everyone. I work my way through Galatians 5:22-23, asking for the blessing of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness or self-control in their lives, depending on where my prayer for them falls in the list. I ask for salvation, wisdom, safety, and sometimes effectiveness, depending on what I know about the person. I’m not holding myself up as an example. Jesus said to pray for those who persecute us. I’m just sharing one way to do that – an example I think works better than we might imagine.
It’s really no different today in our country. We have groups who want peace, but peace is defined as each of those groups being able to glorify themselves at the expense of anyone who disagrees with them. Of course, there’s a whole list of who is and is not acceptable, but “who is not acceptable” generally means “those who disagree with us.”
Jesus warned His disciples that this would be the case. The world would hate them, He said. If they didn’t hate the world, they would be hating Him. The world is full of wicked people, nearly all of whom think they are paragons of virtue and doing the right thing for the right reason in the only way possible. I’ve been told to go to hell by people who sing along with Lennon, “Imagine all the people, living life in peace….” The only way peace can exist is for everyone to laugh alike, walk alike, at all times even talk alike – and that “alike” must be according to that person’s rules. Otherwise, as Mrs. Clinton put it, “there can be no peace.” It’s difficult not to be like these folks. We love those who love us or who evoke our pity (because we can pat ourselves on the back for it.) We hate our enemies.
This is not what Jesus told us to do. Jesus told us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Most of us aren’t aware of the prayer needs of our friends half the time, let alone our enemies. My solution to this is that I pray the same basic prayer for everyone. I work my way through Galatians 5:22-23, asking for the blessing of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness or self-control in their lives, depending on where my prayer for them falls in the list. I ask for salvation, wisdom, safety, and sometimes effectiveness, depending on what I know about the person. I’m not holding myself up as an example. Jesus said to pray for those who persecute us. I’m just sharing one way to do that – an example I think works better than we might imagine.
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