Love Thy Enemy
The commandment to 'love thy enemy' is perhaps THE most difficult one for me to abide by. And the most frustrating. I have been hurt by so many people throughout my life. I have been betrayed, lied too, manipulated, bullied and treated with a total lack of any consideration. I have responded to the hurtful things people have said and done [for the most part] by getting even through fantasy. I have imagined countless numbers of ways of hurting them back. I have hated my enemy - not loved them. I have wished them hurt or even dead. I have wanted them to hurt as much [if not more] than they have hurt me. I have wanted to get even. I have wanted revenge. [and I still do]
Trouble is - GOD says that revenge is HIS - not MINE. God forbids me from 'getting even' - EVEN in fantasy. This frustrates me more than anything else. THIS is my greatest struggle. THIS is where I am stuck - unable to move - unable to get on with my life and to grow in my faith. This is my 'cross to bear'. I equate 'loving thy enemy' with an act of cowardice. 'Real men' get even. I want to HATE those who have hurt me - and I have hated them. But God is LOVE. God can not operate in or through the spirit of HATE.
Imagine - if you will - that on your spirit is a traffic light. Whenever we HATE the light turns RED. This tells God to STOP - to keep His distance - to stay away - to NOT get involved. When God sees a red light - He will leave you alone and allow you to deal with whatever or whoever it is you are dealing with. GOD WILL LEAVE YOU ALONE.
This is not a good thing. For it is never wise to keep God OUT. But this is what we do. This is what I do. Many of us will even go so far as to ask God to help us to hate - to get even. But that is the last thing God will ever do. He will help you to love - for He IS love - but never to hate. The moment your spirit turns to hate - is the moment God backs away. It is the moment the 'light' turns red.
This is not a good thing. For it is never wise to keep God OUT. But this is what we do. This is what I do. Many of us will even go so far as to ask God to help us to hate - to get even. But that is the last thing God will ever do. He will help you to love - for He IS love - but never to hate. The moment your spirit turns to hate - is the moment God backs away. It is the moment the 'light' turns red.
We are commanded to 'love they enemy' BECAUSE it is through that LOVE that God CAN operate. God tells us - God PROMISES US - that He will deal with those who have treated us inappropriately. But ONLY IF we GET OUT OF THE WAY. And we GET out of the way by making sure that the 'light' on our spirit is GREEN. For it is then - and ONLY then - that God can work through us, for us and ON our behalf. HE will deal with our enemies but only IF WE allow Him to do so.
So far - abiding by the commandment to 'Love they enemy' has done little but prove to me just how far I have yet to go in my faith. I have yet to 'Let Go and Let God' deal with those in my life who have hurt me. It is my hope that God would [and will] help those who have hurt me to become green-lighted spirits also - so that they too can become what I hope to become and that is a beacon of light in world so full of darkness. I'm tired of living in the dark. I tired of feeling so hopeless and lost. I'm tired of being part of the problem and NOT part of the solution.
How does one change his or her light to green? How does one become pleasing to God? How does one 'love they enemy'? I'm not sure. To be very honest with you. But I can't help but think that ASKING God to help you would be a good place to start. And we ask God for help through prayer. So we always need to start by praying. Ask God [just as I have been asking] to change your light to green. We also need to learn to keep quiet. I think most of us stumble in our quest to love because we refuse to say NOTHING - and sometimes - saying nothing is the best response to the hateful things that are said to us. We must also TRY to distance ourselves from what comes naturally to us - and that is the desire to hurt BACK. A hateful and mean-spirited person is one who is lost. If we can remember that - then maybe [just maybe] we can pray for those who hurt us and ask God to help them to come out of the darkness. That would be an act of LOVE - and no doubt one that would be pleasing to God. Easy to do? Not for me!! I have a long way to go.
All of this brings me to the yet another commandent - the one that tells us to 'forgive those who trespass against us'. That commandment can be found within the Lord's prayer. To forgive someone who has hurt us - for most of us - is extremely difficult to do. [it is for me - at least] My gut reaction to the idea of forgiving my enemy AND loving my enemy is one where I feel God is asking me to become a WORM. But that's not true at all. [inspite of how it feels] We become BIGGER when we love and forgive - NOT smaller. The 'world' tells us otherwise - but we are also commanded NOT to be OF the 'world'. We must move beyond what the 'world' tells us and become pleasing to God. THAT is the responsiblity of a Christian. That is what God wants from us. That is what God wants us to BE. He wants us to become a vessel through which He can work. Those hands you find on the end of your arms CAN be God's hands - IF you allow God to use them. Your heart -beating within your chest - CAN become the heart of God - IF you allow it to be so. But if we choose to follow our nature - than God must keep His distance. God must stay OUT of our lives.
I don't want God out of my life. Do YOU?!
It should be noted that to forgive someone DOES NOT MEAN that you must accept what they did or said to you as being OK. That is not what forgiveness is about. In most cases - how someone harmed you will NEVER BE OK. When we forgive someone - we let them GO. And when we let THEM go - we free ourselves from the burden of holding on to the hurt AND allow GOD [because our light will turn from
red to green] to deal with those who hurt us. God commands us to forgive our enemies [and those who have hurt us] because it will liberate US and allow God to deal with the situation. We forgive others for OUR sake - NOT their sake.
red to green] to deal with those who hurt us. God commands us to forgive our enemies [and those who have hurt us] because it will liberate US and allow God to deal with the situation. We forgive others for OUR sake - NOT their sake.
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