Pray For Them

         “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)

I know, it hasn’t been long since I wrote about this passage, but in light of yesterday’s post urging you to hate evil, it seems appropriate to go with Biblegateway.com’s choice of this as the passage for today. To reiterate, we are clearly and definitely to hate evil, even if doing so costs us our physical lives. But, we are also to love our enemies and pray for those who do evil. At the same time. This is not a contradiction and it is a command given us by Jesus (for those who think only that which is in “red letters” is important.) It’s what some folks call “Hate the Sin, Love the Sinner.”

As you read through the list below, pray for the blessing and well-being of anyone who comes to mind. If you can’t pray for their blessing and well-being, take some time to just talk the matter over with God. We are to love and pray for those who …

do abortions,                                          believe they are some other gender,

get abortions,                                         who want to force you to buy an electric car and eat                                                                                     bugs,

lie,                                                        want to take your money and give it to someone else,

call you names,                                      want to dictate what you believe and say,

want to turn your children against you,      play disgusting, vile music loudly,

abuse children,                                       abuse animals,

abuse the environment,                           use drugs,

rape,                                                     murder,

burn down your neighborhood,                mistreat people of your skin color,

sell their bodies,                                     display their bodies as if for sale,

use bad language,                                   cheat,

break promises/their word,                      slaughter lots of people,

don’t give us what we want/deserve,         don’t do what we want,

bully,                                                    steal…

Feel free to add to the list. Recently, someone shared a song based on a prayer of Francis of Assisi. I’m not Roman Catholic, but as we think about the evil that is done in this world, and the people who do it, this might be a good place to start:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace; 
Where there is hatred, let me sow love; 
Where there is injury, pardon; 
Where there is doubt, faith; 
Where there is despair, hope; 
Where there is darkness, light; 
And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console; 
To be understood, as to understand; 
To be loved, as to love; 
For it is in giving that we receive, 
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, 
And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen.