“Love Your Enemies”

One of Jesus’ more extraordinary commandments is for his followers to “love our enemies!”  “Do good,” Jesus said, “to those who hurt you.”  “Pray for those who despitefully use you and who persecute you.”  “Those who hear and do these things will be children of God the Father, who pours His goodness on the just and the unjust,” Jesus says.

The question which immediately arises is this: “Who are my enemies?”  Perhaps this would seem self-evident, but this is not any more clear and certain to us than the lawyer’s question to Jesus, “Who are my neighbors?”

 

I attempted today to make a list of my enemies, just as in the past I tried to identify those persons  within my immediate circle of influence who might qualify as  “neighbors” or “friends.”  Normally, as to “neighbors”, I include immediate family, extended family, persons in my immediate neighborhood, then persons in my extended neighborhood (as cousins and acquaintances) and finally persons at work, including those I care for in my practice or work with in the same hospital association.

 It is hard for me to go much farther than this.  I also include my church family, although of these I know very few.  I know “of them”, but not very much “about them.”  But I do try to pray for those persons I know.

 As to identifying my enemies, I am not sure I have any.  I have endeavored to live before God in a way to avoid making enemies, and those who may have been enemies in the past, I have forgiven them all.  I want and try to keep very short lists.  The hardest persons to forgive are those of whom I expected better of them, but great disappointment turned to bitterness can poison one’s inner life of the spirit, and hinders my ability to worship and to seek God’s face.  There is nothing in this life or the next which should ever be allowed to keep us from seeking the face of God.  “Having known Him, we love Him, or rather God knows us and we know Him because of His redemptive Presence!”

 So having no enemies worth mentioning, I will pray instead for the enemies of others, for all who wound, kill, maim or seek to destroy the human family, for all who invade synagogues, mosques, churches and other places of worship and murder those at worship, for all who make bombs and place them in the mail to try and destroy our fellow citizens, and for all who incite them to do so with poisoned political rhetoric, for these, O God our Savior, on this day of worship and gladness, we pray. We pray for these who terrorize your human family and in the Name of God and in name of all which is holy, true, righteous, just and pure, we together rebuke this evil living among us and pray that You, O Holy and Merciful God may purify and purge this evil from among us, bringing to dust those who perpetuate such wickedness and unrighteous acts.  Bring to swift justice, all those who do such evil deeds, that they may be given opportunity to repent and seek your mercy and petition for forgiveness and renewal of faith in their Redeemer, lest they be taken down into the pit of darkness reserved for all those who do wickedness in the human family, yet who fail to repent from their evil deeds and their wicked ways, for we pray in the mighty and most worthy name of Jesus Christ our only True Redeemer and our Friend, to whom be all glory and praise forever, world without end!      Amen and Amen!

 

Bill Wilson, servant of God by God’s abundant mercies!

“Amen!”