Loving Enemies and Praying for Them

Luke 6:35 is a very powerfully packed verse. God is telling us not only to love our friends and those who believe the way that we do, but also those we disagree with. This verse says that God is kind to everyone, even the unthankful and evil.

Matthew 5:44 talks about loving our enemies, blessing those that curse us, doing good to those who hate us, and praying for those who use us and persecute us.

Luke 6:27-31 says to offer the other cheek to one who strikes you. To those who take from you, offer them to take more, and to not ask for the items that they stole from you.

Wow! It is tough to love those who you disagree with and those who you have felt have wronged you. Are you kidding me? He says we should not ask for stolen items to be returned to us. How crazy is that? When someone hits us, we should ask him to hit us again? How can I be kind to someone that is evil?

God loves everyone. He loves all things. It is tough for us to comprehend Him. But, if we just listen to what He says in these few verses. If we would try to do what He would do, this world would definitely be different.

Instead of doing what God would do, we do what we feel like doing. We treat evil with evil back. We take from those who have taken. We do not love our enemies. We condemn those who don't believe the same as us. We hit back those who hit us first, or we hit them first in anticipation of being hit.

And do we bless those who curse us and hate us? No, we condemn them with actions and with words.

Instead of preaching from the pulpit with hate, we should preach from the pulpit with love. Instead of using the national stage to condemn, use it with love.

We feel good about ourselves when we condemn those who hate us and we feel better than them because we think we are right and they are wrong. What we really need to do is humble ourselves before God and our enemies. Treat them like we want to be treated.

If we would only be humble servants of all living things, both good and evil, God's 'will' would be done on this earth like it is in heaven. Instead, our 'will' is done on earth, not God's. God's 'will' in heaven is perfect, our 'will' on earth is not. We are going to make mistakes with our judgments because of our 'will', but we can learn from our mistakes of using our own 'will' to make decisions and comments. We can make this world a better place if we pray for our enemies, turn the other cheek, give and receive till it hurts, and let the Holy Spirit take control of our thoughts and words.