This is Christ’s example and instruction. When we interact with our enemies, it must not be out of hate and spite, but out of love and compassion. They are the ones whose eyes are blinded. They are the ones whose minds are darkened. They are the ones who are enslaved to sin. Our culture must know us as truth-tellers, but we must be truth-tellers with tears, for it is not we who are the victims, but they.
God will handle your enemies full#
Like Jesus, we are to people full of grace and truth. We are called to speak out boldly with prophetic voices calling people to repentance.īut all of this must be presented with compassion and concern. We are called to be salt and light in a sinful world. We are commanded to come out from among them and be separate. We warned them this would happen.”Ĭertainly the Bible talks about not loving the world, or the things of the world. Too often, when the world is hurting, our response is to say, “Well, it serves them right. The world views Christianity as more of an angry political activist movement than a spiritual organization devoted to handing out hope and healing to a hurting world. We’re mad about education, the impact of society upon our children, and abortion activists. We’re mad about the ACLU, condoms in school, crime on the streets, and drugs in our neighborhood. We’re mad about movies, the media, the militant movements…of…gays and lesbians. That’s the way the world often behaves towards its enemies, but the church often acts in similar fashion.Īlthough we sing the song “ They will know we are Christians by our love” most often, people know we are Christians by our hate.Ĭhristians today are mad at the world. We try to get people to side with us and join the team of those who are angry at others. We write letters, make phone calls, send e-mails and muster up support among our friends. We rejoice in their failures and mourn at their successes. This is how most of the world operates toward enemies.
Or maybe you take a more active stance toward your enemies and gossip about them, spread lies about them, turn them into the police when they do something wrong, and pray that God will punish them for their wicked ways. Is that your approach to dealing with your enemies? Is it just to avoid and ignore them, hoping that you outlive and outlast them? Maybe you secretly hope and plan and pray for bad things to happen to them. “Yep,” added the man, “I outlived every last one of them.”
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