Love My Enemies?

January 6

Genesis 11-12

Psalm 5:1-6

Proverbs 1:15-16

Matthew 5:27-47

Love My Enemies?

“But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”

Matthew 5:44 HCSB

I don’t really think of myself as someone who has a lot of enemies.  I get along with most everyone.  Recently, however, God has shown me that there are some people in my life to whom I have been harboring bad feelings and unforgiveness.  These people don’t even know that I feel this way about them and quite frankly, I wasn’t even aware of it myself in most cases.  As I began to examine my heart and my thoughts when confronted with situations involving these individuals, I didn’t like what I saw.  I often expected them to respond negatively to me or say something offensive even before they did.  And I was quick to grumble and complain about having to be around them.  There was very little of God’s love and mercy flowing out of me toward them.  I felt justified in my feelings and thoughts toward them and didn’t see any need to deal with it.  After all, since they did not know how I felt, it was better to just ignore it, right?

 Psalm 139:23-24 says, “Search me, God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” (NIV) God rarely lets me get by with doing things the easy way.  I am spending a lot of time right now praying for them.  It is amazing how difficult it is to continue to feel negatively toward someone I am earnestly praying for daily.  I’m also asking God to show me if I need to go to them and ask for forgiveness.  If they do not know how I feel it may not be a good idea to address it with them so I’m earnestly seeking God to give me wisdom about this.  I do know that I need to let God change my heart toward them.  The best way to do that is to pray for them.  I don’t mean praying that God will make them be nice to me or act the way I want them to, but prayers for their wellbeing and that God would bless them.  If I am truly praying God’s blessings on someone, my attitude toward them changes.  I’m not as likely to be as easily offended and assume they will act negatively toward me, and even when they do, it is easier to let it roll off my back.  I would encourage you to ask God to show you if there is anyone in your life that you need to forgive or with whom you need to restore relationship.