God Calls Us To Love Those Who Treat Us As Enemies
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
How can you and I not be grateful for God’s patience with us? He doesn’t demand of us instant maturity. He doesn’t require that we get it right quickly. He doesn’t teach us a lesson just once. He comes to us in situation after situation, each controlled by his sovereign grace, each designed to be a tool of transformation, and he works on the same things again and again.
When someone offends us whether intentionally or not, God’s word tells us how we should respond. In simple terms, we are to love our enemies (or those who sometimes behave as though they are our enemies). We are commanded to forgive. We are to go beyond merely being courteous and kind. As believers, we must do good to these difficult folks, bless them, pray for them, and treat them as we would want to be treated. And that’s a high calling indeed.
God Gives Us Supernatural Grace When It Matters Most
There is no greater power on earth than the supernatural, Holy Spirit-infused, grace-infused ability to love one’s enemies. Regardless of how much we may disagree with others, our marching orders are to love, bless, pray, and serve those around us as the primary calling God has issued. When we experience the sting of rejection, unkindnesses, or anger from others who live and believe differently from ourselves, we as Christians have no other choice than to respond in love.
The Lord Gives Us Grace To Love Our Enemies
Difficult? Yes, but as we obey our Lord by offering grace-filled responses to those who are first-time enemies or those especially hard to love repeat offenders, God’s enabling grace comes into play…in our attitudes, our words, our actions, and most importantly, within our own hearts. As we choose to honor God in these challenging life scenarios, not only will we be given grace from above, our hearts will soften toward those who oppose us…and for that, we can be eternally grateful.
Take-away Action Thought
When I am tempted to give vent to unrighteous anger, I will step away from the volatile situation and get to a quiet, solitary place to pray and seek the Lord’s wisdom on how to respond. I’ll take all the time it requires to calm down emotionally and I’ll spend time reading through the book of Proverbs to help gain fresh insight on this troubling encounter.
My Heart’s Cry to You, O Lord
Father, I’m so upset right now I can hardly focus on anything. I feel angry and frustrated with this situation because I cannot change or control it. Please help me to remember that you are in control over all things that happen in this world.
Help me to place my confidence in you, not in the troubling circumstances in my world and in the world at large. You alone can change individuals’ hearts and minds. Give me the wisdom and grace to accept that truth and to be content with doing my best to overcome evil with good by loving, blessing, and praying for those who are so difficult to love. Amen.
Practicing Grace and Gratitude
- Grace and gratitude from God – Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you. This week, I will spend time searching out Scripture verses found in the book of Proverbs about wise and godly living. I’ll write down those verses that are especially pertinent and meaningful to me in this situation.
- Grace and gratitude in me – Pray for those who mistreat you. Each evening, I’ll devote time specifically to pray for anyone (and everyone) that I am struggling to love and serve. I’ll spend extra time praying for anyone I view as my enemy.
- Grace and gratitude in life – Do to others as you would have them do to you. Each day this week, I’ll choose one difficult person in my life to serve and bless with a kind note of thanks or some sort of tangible gift to encourage them. I’ll ask God to show me how I can communicate these individuals that I care for them deeply.
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