An Intriguing Reason for Loving Our Enemies

Daily Devotional – Saturday, December 3, 2022
But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.
Matthew 5:44 (NKJV)

I was smarting from a friend’s betrayal. I could not understand why a person I had helped unreservedly had elected to hurt me. My fertile mind devised all sorts of strategies to hit back. My friend-turned-enemy must pay for hurting me, I decided.

Embrace Your Foe

As I evaluated the revenge strategies at my disposal, a voice in my conscience started pricking me. It said, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44).

I must admit that implementing some Bible teachings is not easy. The verse that precedes our key text reveals this when it says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’” (Matthew 5:43).

The Mind of a Nemesis

I believe Jesus understood my predicament because He knows the human tendency is to hate one’s enemy. I wondered, though, how He expected me to love, pray for, and bless someone who had deliberately harmed me.

Then the Holy Spirit revealed an intriguing secret to me. People who hurt and persecute others are themselves suffering. They have unresolved intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts, which they project on innocent people.

How to Treat a Sick Adversary

For example, workers who are problematic and pick quarrels with colleagues in the workplace are likely to have problems at home. Such employees tend to vent their frustrations on innocent coworkers who happen to be readily available.

I realized that people who hurt others are actually ill. Like other sick people, those who persecute and spitefully use us need our love, blessings, and prayers. Instead of hating and cursing our ailing enemies, we would rather show kindness and mercy to them.

How to Love Your Enemy

The impact of this insight was so powerful that I kneeled and asked God to forgive me for my anger and bitterness. I realized that if I did not treat my enemy as Jesus demanded, I would gradually become like my friend-turned-enemy—a physically, emotionally, and spiritually sick person.

Is there an enemy, user, or persecutor in your life that God wants you to love, bless, and pray for? Treat such a person with empathy and kindness, the same way you would deal with a sick person. Love your enemy.

Prayer
Lord Jesus, show me how to love, bless, and pray for my enemy.