How easy is it for you to love your enemies? Who do you think of when you think of enemies? Do you do good to those who hate you? Would you rather return hate for hate? What about those who curse you or mistreat you? How do you want to treat them?
We want to defeat our enemies. We want to return hate for hate. We want to return curse for curse. If someone mistreats us, we want to return it to them. We have a real problem with seeking revenge. That is our idea of justice. Yet, it is not God’s.
Jesus tells us to love our enemies. That is very hard to do. But Jesus didn’t say it would be easy to follow Him. He says we are to do good to those who hate us. Oh my! That may be even harder to do. We can love, or say we love, our enemies so long as we aren’t near them. But if someone hates us, it is highly like they are closer to us than our enemies. They may even be family members. Doing good for them can take every fiber of goodness we can draw from God.
Blessing anyone who curses us is likely the last thing on our mind. Yet, Jesus tells us to do so. Again, very hard to do. Someone who curses us is likely right in our face. They may be screaming at us. How can we bless them? We must rely on the Holy Spirit.
Anyone who mistreats is also in our face or very close. They may be someone we work with or even a boss. Again, Jesus tells us to pray for them. What do we pray? “God, strike them down.” No. We should pray that God work in their lives to change them.
I pray we all take Jesus’ words to heart. I pray we choose to follow Jesus to be like Him. I pray each one of us will love our enemies, do good for those who hate us, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who mistreat us. It won’t be easy. Following Jesus is hard. Know that He will give you the strength.
Luke 6:27-28 “But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you.”
Marty Pressey 