To you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
Luke 6:27-28
Last week, Love Your Enemies, I wrote about loving my enemies – a humanly impossible task. God says we should– but why? And how can I love my enemies?
How can I love my enemies?
Why does God ask us to do the impossible?
As I said last week, the first reason I should love my enemies is because God has told us to.
The second reason is because God loved us first.
We love because He first loved us.
1 John 4:19
This second reason why, is also the answer to ‘How?’ It’s only when we realise how much we have been loved and forgiven, that we are enabled to love and forgive others, especially our enemies.
What is love?
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Last week I wrote about my difficult neighbour, and my difficulties with forgiving him and showing love to him. If I’m honest when I look at the verse above, I know I have fallen well short of loving my neighbour. I have been impatient, unkind, and very easily angered. I HAVE kept a record of his wrongs!
Does he deserve forgiveness? Do I?
Perhaps my neighbour doesn’t deserve my forgiveness. That may be true.
But do I deserve God’s forgiveness? Actually, I don’t!
God doesn’t forgive me because I’m such a good person, or because of all the good things I’ve done, or even because I love him.
Surely, I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Psalms 51:5
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8
Why did God forgive me?
So, why DID God forgive me?
He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
Titus 3:5
Wow! God forgave me because of His mercy, His love. He didn’t wait until I cleaned up my act, or showed that I deserved it. He died to forgive me, while I was still a sinner. In fact, almost 2000 years before I was even born!
You have been healed
Perhaps you have been a prisoner of sin. Maybe you still are. Perhaps your conscience has burdened you with shame and guilt.
Or perhaps you’ve denied the truth, pretending that you’re not a sinner, or making excuses for your mistakes and bad choices.
Perhaps you’ve believed the lies that you are perfect just as you are; that you don’t need to change; that you (and everyone else) just needs to accept you as you are. You don’t have a problem with sin, and if anyone has a problem with you, it’s their problem, not yours.
Perhaps people have done bad things to you. Your enemies have brought you down. You feel you have every right to be angry and resentful.
Perhaps lots of unfortunate things have happened to you, and therefore you think you can’t help but be angry and bitter at the terrible things that life has thrown at you.
Perhaps you’ve become a bitter person, alternating between anger and sadness, always demanding pity and sympathy.
Satan is pleased when you hold onto your bitterness, hate and unforgiveness. That way, you are separated from God’s love and forgiveness. God asks you to trust Him; to confess to your pride and self-righteousness; and your sin of trying to fake your own perfection. You have sinned by holding onto the sins of other people, when Jesus has already died for those sins too.
God knows your hurt. God knows your sin – all of it. He knows the sin you have done, and the sins committed against you.
But here’s the good news – you have been healed:
He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
1 Peter 2:24
Healed and free!
Because of God’s love for you, you can be healed. You can be free. God doesn’t promise that your enemies will become your best buddies, or even that they will stop tormenting you. He doesn’t promise that you will have a trouble-free life. What he does promise those who believe, and trust Jesus is: you ARE forgiven; that He has a place for you in heaven; and that He will never leave you – no matter what happens.
You are free from the burden of ALL sin, both the sins you have done, and the sins done to you.
If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
God wants you to receive His forgiveness, His healing, and His freedom. You don’t have to hold onto your pain and hurt and bitterness. Jesus already died for all of it.
Maybe that’s a big step for you. You’ve been holding onto your troubles for so long, that they’ve come to define who you are.
Let’s say it again:
If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
Prayer:
Dear God, I have been offended, hurt, and embittered by many things including my enemies, and my circumstances. I haven’t trusted you with my problems. I’ve tried to ‘man up’ and do it all myself. I’ve demanded and expected my enemies to change. I’ve even blamed You for it all. I’ve demanded and expected You to change my circumstances.
Please forgive me.
Thank you that, because of Jesus, you HAVE forgiven me!
Help me now to forgive my enemies. I can’t do this in my own strength. Please remind me of the love and forgiveness that you have lavished on me. In the power of the Holy Spirit, enable me to forgive those who have sinned against me.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.