May 5, 2016

Treat Your Enemies Well

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” -- Luke 6:27-28

Have you ever had to regularly deal with someone who hates you? Maybe a co-worker? Or another church member? (That happens more often than we like to admit.) Or maybe it’s a family member?

It’s hard to love someone who hates you, isn’t it? It’s hard to pray for people who are lying about you and trying to harm you. It’s difficult to do good and be kind to someone who wishes you were dead.

Yet this is exactly what Jesus tells us to do.

Do they deserve it? No. But neither do I deserve His love, forgiveness, and grace. I remind myself of that regularly, as I struggle with these words of Jesus.

Jesus was telling the Jewish people to treat the Romans who oppressed them with respect. He no doubt lost a few followers over that one. We don’t want to be kind to people who wish us harm.

It’s understandable. Our human reflex is to fight, to defend ourselves, to lash out with words that refute their lies. And then it escalates. No one wins. Everyone loses. And you are left more broken than before.

So you remain silent. You walk away from the conflict. You do good where you can. You stay strong, not because you are strong but because God is strong.

This is where you take it all to Him. You get down on your knees and, in the words of one Bible teacher, you tattle on the person who seeks to harm you. That’s right. Tell God all about it. Pour out your hurt and your anger, rant about the unfairness of being blamed for someone else’s mistake. Tell God how upset you are that someone else took credit for your idea.

Then get up and leave it with God. That’s the hardest part. Leaving it with Him and trusting Him to take care of it. Sometimes I think that’s the only way to get through it all is to know that God will always avenge those who belong to Him. Always. His Word is so clear on that. Be patient. Do your part to follow Him and trust God to fight for you.