Day 34
Love Your Enemies
Reflection By: Matt Rohr

Christ's challenge to all his disciples to love our enemies and do good to those that persecute us is perhaps His most difficult to fulfill. The dictionary defines an enemy as:

"a person or group that hates and tries to harm another, opponent, adversary"

Why does Jesus want us to love such people? He wants this response because it is the only way to create the kingdom of heaven. Remember there are no enemies in heaven.

Christ like any good leader sets the example here by responding with love when faced with his enemies. The most compelling example is His Crucifixion when He forgave those who crucified Him.

A more subtle example is His constant love for each one of us even though we oppose His will through sin. When we oppose His will with our own will we become an opponent or enemy of Jesus. Despite this opposition His love for us is constant. He forgives us as soon as we seek it and we immediately return to the fullness of His love. Therefore, the challenge to love our enemy is simply a more dramatic example of his command to love each other as He loves us.

At the core of any adversarial relationship between two people is conflict of some kind which has become seemingly irreconcilable. However, we believe in the transforming power of God's grace. If we invite Jesus into the relationship through prayer He can show both people a way to reconcile and for genuine mutual love to return.

The first step is to involve Jesus directly through prayer. We should pray for both our enemy and for ourselves to be transformed by God's love. Our natural tendency is to focus on what our enemy should do and the fact that they should make the first move. Perhaps the hardest part of this process is coming to understand how our own actions have contributed to the conflict and take the first step toward reconciliation. We must focus on what we control, our actions, and trust Jesus to take care of the rest.

God Bless You