Be Merciful to All,
Even Your Enemies
“You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor
and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those
who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his
sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the
unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not
even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what
are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect,
therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matt. 5:43-48)
With the verses above, Jesus raises the bar even higher
when it comes to how merciful his followers are to be. For most of us, if we
were the ones doing the teaching, we couldn't imagine how to make it any
higher. Jesus has already taught that his followers are to be more merciful
than the Old Testament law, even more merciful than man’s laws commonly
required, and if that were not enough, they are to have a merciful heart and
give away whatever is asked of them and loan their possessions and money to
whoever asks to borrow.
But Jesus does raise the bar even higher – he moves from
the outward externals to the issues of the heart – he asks his disciples not
only to love one another but to love their enemies as well. No one else ever
thought of such a drastic radical love as this – loving your enemies who are
coming against you to insult you, to rob you of your possessions, even to
injure or kill you or your loved ones. Only the God of love, who put on flesh
and became love personified, could even think of this kind of radical love, let
alone live it out.
But live it out He did, laying down his divine form and
all of its privileges so that he could take the form of a servant and become
obedient even unto death, even death on the cross. For while we were still
enemies of God, living for ourselves and our own fleshly desires, Jesus died
for us. He loved His enemies – us and the whole world – so much that He gave
His life for ours. Is it possible, if not probable, then, that He would ask His
followers to do the same?
That is exactly what Jesus does. He raises the bar so high that no one can do it by simple willpower
or thought control. Only someone who has been born again in Christ and living
in the love and power that He offers can even begin to meet the seemingly
impossible standard of loving one’s enemies.
Like they did with many of the other extreme commands of
Jesus, some writers and teachers try to put limits on what Jesus taught as they
attempt to tell us what Jesus really meant when he told us to love our enemies.
But the love of God in Jesus is limitless, and so should ours be. Even when
someone is persecuting us, even when faced with the loss of possessions, even
when faced with bodily harm or even death, our attitudes and our reactions are
to be merciful and loving.
When dealing with
our enemies, do we see them as potential Christ-followers, created in the image
of God, people for whom Jesus died? Do we love them and pray for them even as
they are inflicting harm upon us or our loved ones? If by the grace of God we
are able to do so, then we are becoming more and more like Jesus, who prayed
from the cross for those who were crucifying him.
As we live out this kind of love, we separate ourselves
from those around us – from the tax collectors and the pagans in Jesus’
teaching, from the co-workers, the neighbors, and the person at the grocery
store in our every day lives. For as we live out this kind of love, we become
more and more like our Heavenly Father and less and less like our old selves
and the people in the world around us.
Many Christians around the world and over the centuries
have struggled with how to live out their love for their enemies. Some have
chosen to be total pacifists, never raising a hand to defend themselves. Others
have prayerfully defended themselves while trying to keep a heart of mercy that doesn't seek vengeance or retaliation. I won’t pretend to have all the answers
here; each one of us has to follow Christ as seems best to him or her.
But one thing I do know – as we love our enemies we are
being like our Father in heaven and we are living as his sons and daughters.
And like children who are growing up and becoming more and more like their
parents, we too will become more and more like our Heavenly Father who is
perfect – complete and mature – in His love and mercy.
If you are like me, you likely recognize that none of us
are completely mature and perfect in our mercy and love towards others. But one
day we will be, when we see Jesus face-to-face and He will make us perfect and
complete. In the meantime, let’s strive to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is
perfect. Let’s make sure we are on the narrow path to maturity and completeness
in our love and mercy towards others. Let’s love our enemies and everyone else
God brings across our path.
It’s not easy but it is worth it. For as Jesus promised
in the Beatitude, those who are merciful will receive mercy. Those who live for
God by being merciful and loving towards others will live for eternity in the
presence of a loving and merciful God. And not only that, their earthly lives
will be filled with blessings and prolonged happiness as they make it their
practice to be merciful towards others.
Pray with me:
Thank you, Jesus, for being merciful to
me! Following You is not easy but it is worth it! Help me to live for you day
by day. Help me to love everyone, even my enemies. Give me wisdom and
discernment as to how to live this out day by day, hour by hour, moment by
moment. Give me wisdom, especially in these situations and with these people I
bring before you now…continue praying as you are led…
For further study, meditate on these Scriptures:
1 John 4:15-17 If anyone
acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And
so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in
love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us
so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world
we are like him.
1 John 4:7-8 Dear friends,
let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been
born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God
is love.
1 John 4:9-12 This is how God
showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we
might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved
us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since
God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God;
but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in
us.
Please use this blog for
personal devotional use and feel free to share it with friends and family.
However, all publishing rights are reserved. No reproduction or publication of
this blog is permitted without the permission of the author, Pastor Randy
Brockett of New Song
Foursquare Church
in Colorado Springs , Colorado
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