Whatever Happened to Loving Our 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.” Matthew 5:43-48

Believe it or not but it is a temptation of human nature to want to complicate things—especially when they are disagreeable. The above passage of scripture is no exception.

Before we can talk directly about loving our enemies I think it necessary to first know how to define an enemy. To give the definition found in the New American Webster Dictionary an enemy is: “One who opposes or seeks to inflict injury on another. An opposing military force; a hostile foreign country, or a national of such a country. Anything injurious or antagonistic.” When we look at the word “enemy” (echthros) from a Greek vista we find that it likewise describes a hostile and hateful relationship between two people. Simply put, an enemy is not an easy person to love.

Scripturally speaking, there are only two kinds of people: neighbors and enemies. Thus, to all the followers of Christ has been given the mandate to love and pray for them both. We have no business picking and choosing whom we should love, for we have been called to love all people, no matter what the circumstances.

In this day and age I am convinced that many of us do not know how to love our enemies. I hate making generalizations and judgments on this generation, but I can’t help but speak what I see is true. To see how seriously we have taken the mandate to love our enemies every one of us must ask ourselves “what enemies have I been loving and praying for lately?” Possibly I am missing it, but I rarely here people talk about praying for their enemies. If we are going to follow Christ with our lives then it is time we begin to actively and passionately love and pray for those at enmity with us. Sadly, we have created so many exceptions to loving our enemies that we have worked our way out of it without even knowing. I want to challenge all who may read this to put down the exceptions and to just begin to love with all that you are—with your life.

Whether it be a short term traffic jam enemy or a long term family enemy we need to be a people that release an atmosphere of peace. This requires that we spend time in the presence of Christ and that He would reveal to us the greatness of His love. I would not expect a person that has not had a revelation of God’s love to know how to love their enemy. For that kind of love is not of the kind that modern entertainment and education speak of. To love your enemy is foolishness to this world.

When 9/11 happened, I was attending a Christian school and to this day I still can’t get over the comments of many of the students. “Nuke em.” “Let’s join the military and kill those bastards.” “We should just blow up the whole country.” Comments like that seemed to be everywhere and to be said without hesitation. Someone had just become the nation’s enemy and because many Christians did not have a practice of loving their personal enemies they certainly did not know how to respond to a national enemy. We should have practiced forgiveness. Christian leaders should have stood up all over America and been the first to say “we forgive, now let us pray for you.” We didn’t do that—we couldn’t do that because we did not have a practice of doing it here in this country. It is not an American practice. That needs to change.

If you ONLY love those who love you, what reward will you get? You see, the world only knows how to love those who reciprocate back. Modern sociology teaches that gifts that aren’t reciprocated breed discomfort and disbelief. But this should not be the case for the Christian. It is not our inheritance to love just as the world loves. Revelation not reciprocation should be our enduring motivation to love.

I close with this quote from Transforming Violence: “We get no closer to God than we get to our enemy—that is, to any person regarded as ‘different’ and ‘a threat.’” Perhaps we should think about that.