LOVE FOR ENEMIES

Matthew 5:43-45

43 \”You have heard that it was said, \’You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.\’
44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:43, ESV)

• 

Some times we find God’s commands very outrageous if we are standing at the point of human understanding then you begin to wonder and will be forced to ask some pertinent questions like in this case.
HOW CAN I LOVE MY ENEMY?
“But I say to you Love your enemies. And pray for those who persecute you” Matthew 5:44.

For the love of enemies some people may circle their hands over their head and said God Forbid!! But when you are in Christ you may want to be like Christ by emulating those things you heard Him do although it may not be by your strength , but by the spirit of God that resides in you for with man this is impossible , but all things are possible with God.

• 

The scripture says “for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1Corinthians 1;18)
Until you begin to do great exploit for God ; there are things that may look as though it is not practicable. Praying for those who persecute you, Yeah is possible because at times those people may be acting under authority perhaps. That was why Stephen when he was arrested beaten up and cast outside the city to be stoned to death; it was based on the instruction of one young man named Saul then who was moving about persecuting Christians all over Jerusalem.

Then Stephen cried out to God and said “Lord Jesus receive my soul” he knelt down and cried out louder and said “Lord do not charge them with this sin….” (Acts 7:58-60). Almost a similar saying by our Lord Jesus, our savior and my Mentor while He laid on the Cross of Calvary “Father , forgive them for they do not know what they do (Luke 23:34).

But to love your enemies that’s the crux of the matter, I was deliberating it with a friend who visited before I hit my key board to write this, she asked me “The enemies meant to be loved is it a known enemy who must have carried an uncompromising treachery, backbiting , shown enough hatred for both of you to part ways and avoid contact with each other or unknown enemy who likely going to be manipulative, very dangerous to a fault and will always desire your down fall or wishing you bad?
I laughed and said enemy is enemy whether unknown or known, then I drew her attention to John 10:10 . I reminded her that all enemies are regarded as “The Thief” irrespective of their identity.
“The Thief comes only in other to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come in other that you might have life-Life In it’s fullness. (John 10:10). GNT

We laughed together and she winced and asked you mean I should love him/her? I paused, looked at her face intendedly. Honestly, in my mind I was like can it be possible to love such a person? By the way will you ever allow such a person to come close for you to show him/her love? Yes with God is possible for His grace is sufficient for us . While I was trying to motivate us to have it at the back of our minds that we must trust God and obey His words

• 

I remembered how king David prayed for repentance and forgiveness when his sins were laid bare before him by a prophet. Then David prayed to God and said in Psalm 51: 10-12

Psalms 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Psalms 51:11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Psalms 51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit. NRSV.

David suddenly remembered that he needs a recreative mind and a willing spirit to avert temptation and not to act foolishly by paying evil with evil rather one should pay evil with good. A regenerated mind and pure Spirit is what Christianity is all about living a Christ like life.

Because we are born sinners, our natural inclination is to please ourselves at all time rather than pleasing God. We deserve a cleanse heart from within filling our mind with the right spirit and a pure heart as King David prayed.

Right conduct can only come from a recreative mind as such we can boldly come to the throne of Mercy to pray \”Forgive us our sins as we forgive others that sin against us\”

To un-recreated mind it may sound a heard thing to do \”For we also heard the good news as proclaimed to us just as they did, but the message they heard was no value to them because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. (Hebrew 4:2).

When we pray \”May your will be Done\” we are not resigning ourselves to fate but praying that God\’s perfect purpose will be accomplished in this world as well as in our lives. In Christ we live, move and have our bearing therefore we will find joy and satisfaction in Him and as such shall live our lives to please Him and to obey His Commands.

Shalom And Be Blessed Amen.

✍️ Mrs Blessing I N Onugha ❤️