Love Your Enemies

But I tell you who hear me: 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

As a Christian, one of the hardest principles for me to practice has been to pray for and love my enemies. The few people that I would actually see as "enemies" have hurt me so deeply that just letting go of the hurt takes lots of effort and lots of prayer. And then when I think I've done it, someone will mention that person to me and all the hurt they caused me will come back and I'll have to start from scratch. Forgiveness is a complicated matter.

So this morning I was talking to God yet again about a person I seem to have to forgive over and over again. I told Him how hard it is for me to pray for good things for this person after all that went down between us. While I was praying, God showed me something I should have probably realized awhile ago in relation to this particular person. I don't need to be praying for worldly blessings and a comfortable life for this person, I need to be praying for salvation and for that person's walk with God. That's the only blessing that really matters. It is not God's will for anyone to be lost.

Sin is the cause of most of the pain in the world. It's the cause of the pain that my enemies have put in my life and the cause of the pain that I have put in the lives of others. But that pain doesn't matter compared to the souls that are at stake. Grudges are the enemy's will, forgiveness and freedom are God's will. I need to put all pettiness aside and pray for the lost--including the lost that have wounded me--because even the deepest of my hurts is pettiness in the face of eternity.

Posted by Kim at November 8, 2007 07:55 AM