Loving our enemies is one of the most challenging things in life. It is difficult to love someone who has mistreated me.
In addition,
When the father raped his own daughter, raped by a group of people or robbed of your belongings, it is difficult to love.
When a stranger murders my wife and children before my own eyes for a few thousand dollars, I find it difficult to love that person.
When people hate me for no reason – based on my color, economic status, education, I find it difficult to love and the list goes on…
However, it is so natural for us to hate our enemies. No one needs to give a lesson on that for us.
When the Lord Jesus says, “you love those who hate you, is it possible at all?” The Lord will never ask me to do anything that I am incapable of. God has wired me to produce everything He demands from me.
How is it possible? It is remarkably simple. When the Father God created Adam, He created him in His image and His character.
Genesis 1:26a Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness,…
Adam received the character of God. What is the character of God? Love, mercy, forgive, patience, trust worthy, anger (righteous), holiness, purity, joy, etc.
So, the Lord placed the necessary potential in a man or woman. Now it becomes the responsibility of man to exercise that choice to show love, no matter what was done to that person. He should not come up with a list of reasons why he cannot love, because whatever God calls/requires/demands for, He has already provided in a man.
When God gives you a responsibility, He also gives the power and ability to fulfill that responsibility. So, when God commands you to do something, we shouldn’t say that we can’t do it, bur rather, we should choose to do it. It is not that you cannot, but it is that you won’t. It becomes my personal choice. Loving the enemy through forgiveness releases a higher level of peace and freedom in my spirit. As long as I am holding a person in my mind, I am hurting.
God wants me to enjoy freedom and peace. And that is the reason He is asking me to love the enemy and He has empowered me to do that.
Would you take sometime today to ponder if you are still harboring something that was done to you years ago? Please prayerfully consider asking for God’s forgiveness for holding that person in your mind and approaching the person and ask forgiveness.
I promise you – you will be glad you did.
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As the Bible says in I Corinthian 13:4-8a “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. . It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. . Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails…”