I don’t want to start on a negative note, but I hope you will give me permission just for a moment to stir up some unhappy emotions. Just for a bit. And I pray that the Lord Himself will comfort you through this segment.
If I ask you to think about your enemies, who would immediately come to your mind? I mean, do you even have enemies? I hope not. But if you do, think about who these people are for a moment. I don’t want you to dwell on the reasons why you avoid or refuse to deal with that person. I’m sure you have good reason to. But for now just keep that person (or persons) in mind.
Some of you may be blessed that you don’t have serious enemies – as in someone you’re in actual fighting and arguing against; but perhaps you have people who can be irritating, or can be hard to deal with, or who just don’t see things your way. I want you to also think about who those people are.
SOME PEOPLE WE SIMPLY DON’T LIKE
I think it’s safe to say that most of us have an “enemy” of some sort. I have enemies too. It’s the driver of the car that blocks the intersection I’m crossing, or the executive in our company who contradicts my proposals without hearing me out. It’s the people who make life difficult for my wife or my children, or for that matter the enemies of my friends and my family are also my enemies. And, if you ask me how I feel about these enemies of mine? Well, to put it mildly – I don’t like them. Period.
Years ago, I was talking to one of my managers in my previous employment. She told me that her husband just messaged her from his work in the Middle East, and said to her that he was seeing another woman and was not going to return home anymore. Good bye. That man – even if I didn’t know him – instantly became my enemy. Ganon.
And let’s not even talk about politics, or the environment, or gender issues. Then my list of enemies gets longer and longer.
JESUS DIED FOR OUR ENEMIES, TOO
But you know what, brothers and sisters? Can I tell you something about my enemies and your enemies. It’s something that I learned when I started reading the bible and getting know God and the Lord Jesus. You know I learned about my enemies? I know that God loves me. Of course. But I learned that God loves my enemies, too.
Actually, remember that woman whose husband texted her about leaving her? That’s also what I told this lady, and she was sort of surprised. I said to her, “You know what, Jesus died for your husband also.”
Maybe for many of you, that’s not so surprising. Of course, God loves everyone as His children. But for us to look at our enemies in that way, namely that God loves them also, it’s something that probably never ever crossed our minds. But that’s the truth. Of course, God may not be happy with them, but He loves them anyway. I guess, to be fair and honest, and if we turn the table around, we need to think of ourselves as someone’s enemy, and that, yes, God loves us indeed, doesn’t He, even if we’re the enemy of that someone whom God loves also, right?
What’s my point?
Well, in today’s Gospel, Jesus says, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. And when it comes to dealing with people you don’t like, Jesus says: “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” Why? Because God loves them too. Love them, as God loves them.
Exactly how should we love them in practical terms? Well, we would have to go through a two-day retreat perhaps to get into that topic. Obviously, we can’t get into that now. But let me just focus on that one thing that Jesus prescribes in today’s verse that I think we can do right away.
PRAY FOR GOD’S BLESSINGS ON THEM
What does Jesus say? Jesus says, “pray for your persecutors”. Pray for your enemies, Jesus says. I think we can start with that, right?
Now tell me. How many of you actually pray for your enemies? Those people you don’t like. I know we pray for the weak and the sick; we pray for those friends and loved ones who are in some difficulty in their life. We pray for ourselves. We pray for special occasions. But, how many of us pray for our enemies, and for those we don’t like?
To be honest, I have a long list of people whom I pray for every day. But when certain names come up, and I recall unpleasant things about that person I don’t like, I think to myself that God will understand why I don’t pray for that person.
But I do believe there is power in obeying this instruction of Jesus. That I should pray for my enemies, for those people I don’t like in my life. You know why? You know what is the blessing that comes from praying for our enemies?
Well, first of all, I’m sure God will be pleased with my prayer for my enemies. Because this is a first step in “loving” my enemies, which is what He says I should do. What about you? Do you think you can do that? Do you think you can take this first step in loving your enemies? Namely to pray for them?
And I think that our prayer should be that God would bless them. Our prayer should NOT be: “Lord, please change their mind. Please make them become better persons.” And so on. Because then that would mean that we have judged their hearts and minds, and we have presumed to know what only God knows. I don’t think God will be pleased to answer that prayer. Better to just pray that God would bless them, in the same way that we would pray for God’s blessings for those whom we love.
YOUR PRAYER FOR OTHERS WILL CHANGE YOUR VIEW OF THEM
I think the second benefit in praying for our enemies is that the more we pray for our enemies every day, the more God will change our heart, to a heart that is no longer resentful, but a heart that is accepting and forgiving. Again, this is exactly the heart of God for all His children.
Finally, I think that if we start loving our enemies by praying for them, we begin to choose to love than to hate, and hopefully we begin the path of transformation where we become more compassionate and more merciful, to anyone and everyone.
Yes, brothers and sisters. Let’s love as God would love us and our enemies. Let’s pray for our enemies.
Leave a Reply