Lover Your Enemies

Matthew 5:43-48

⁴³ “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. ⁴⁴ But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! ⁴⁵ In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. ⁴⁶ If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. ⁴⁷ If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. ⁴⁸ But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:43-48

Pray for those who persecute you. This is the high calling of those who wish to follow Jesus. It’s not a generic “love,” but it’s an intimate love that wills the good for the other person through intentional prayer.

I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want to do for an enemy is pray for them. I don’t want good things to happen for them. I want them to get what I think they deserve: to feel the same pain that they’ve caused me or others. It’s easy (and as you’ll see in a second) arguably biblical to pray for your enemies’ destruction.

Listen to the words of Psalm 109:6-13.

They say, “Get an evil person to turn against him.

Send an accuser to bring him to trial.

When his case comes up for judgment,

let him be pronounced guilty.

Count his prayers as sins.

Let his years be few;

let someone else take his position.

May his children become fatherless,

and his wife a widow.

May his children wander as beggars

and be driven from their ruined homes.

May creditors seize his entire estate,

and strangers take all he has earned.

Let no one be kind to him;

let no one pity his fatherless children.

May all his offspring die.

May his family name be blotted out in the next generation.

This is the Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God?

When I think of Jesus’ high calling to love our enemies, he means the people that in our worst moments, we are saying “AMEN” to this scripture.¹ So how do we love our enemies?

The key to loving our enemies is the great gift of perspective. We need to have the perspective of others through God’s eyes. We can love our enemies because God has loved us. Romans 5:8-10 “For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”

Jesus loved us, his enemies, and the people who opposed his will and way in the world. And thus, we rely on his example, teaching, and power to help us love our enemies.

Practically, what does it look like:

1. We begin by praying. Even if the only prayer we can muster is “God I don’t want to pray for them, but you command us to, so here I am.”

2. We move closer to them. We practice empathizing and trying to see and understand their world and perspective. It doesn’t excuse their behavior, but it may help to explain their behavior. It doesn’t make their actions right, but it makes them human.

3. We ask God to help us love, forgive, or whatever else we can’t do in our power.

4. We practice separating the behavior from the person. We come to understand that what someone did was terrible, evil, or awful, but who someone is is made in God’s image.

Loving your enemies is like Christianity 501. It’s one of the hardest things we do, but it’s part of the journey that God has called us to.

Love,

Aaron

P.S. This is part of my Red Letters to a Weary Soul that goes out to my paid subscribers. I’m walking through the Red Letters in the Gospels at a nice, slow pace every Friday. Subscribers also receive my “What I’m Learning” which comes out at the end of each month. If you are interested in joining in, then click the button below.

1. What do we do with a text like Psalm 109 that even in its resolution does not come around to wanting restoration for their enemies? I think we understand it in context. These Psalms serve to teach us that God can handle our honesty and our emotions. Thank God that we don’t have to censor ourselves before him. I told my son the other day that if you are angry, then never send your first email. Write your first email and get it all out, but don’t send it! With God you can send the rough draft. This Psalm is not to teach us the right way to view our enemies, but the great gift of being real and uncensored with God.