Love Thy Enemy

Matthew 5:43-48 Lexham English Bible (LEB)

The Sermon on the Mount: Love for Enemies

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’^[a] and ‘Hate your enemy.’^{[b] 44} But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, because he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust. ⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not the tax collectors also do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing that is remarkable? Do not the Gentiles also do the same? ⁴⁸ Therefore you be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

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I've been thinking about this trying to relate this to the actions of Jesus. Jesus had many run-ins with the Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees. Many of them wanted to end His life and silence Him. He often had strong words to say to them. So I thought, "How does this show Jesus' love to them?" 

I think it is much like parents with their children. Sometimes we as parents get so frustrated with our children we just want to pull our hair out but we still love them. It is exposing their wrongdoings in hopes of them changing and coming to the light (Jesus). Wickedness should be exposed, not wishing for bad things to happen to those doing it but because it's the only hope for change in them. As long as wickedness and wrongdoing is hidden, it will continue.

I think part of this too is not to Hate our enemies because hate makes us want to retaliate for their wrongdoings to us. God says that vengeance is His.

Deuteronomy 32:35-37 Common English Bible (CEB)

³⁵ Revenge is my domain, so is punishment-in-kind,
    at the exact moment their step slips up,
    because the day of their destruction is just around the corner;
    their final destiny is speeding on its way!
³⁶ But the Lord will acquit his people,
    will have compassion on those who serve him,
        once he sees that their strength is all gone,
        that both prisoners and free people are wiped out.^[a]
37 The Lord will ask, “Where are their gods—
    the rocks they trusted in—

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Something else to think about, something I have to keep reminding myself of, is that our battles or struggles are not with flesh and blood.

Ephesians 6:10-12 New International Version (NIV)

The Armor of God

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

2 Corinthians 10:3-4 Common English Bible (CEB)

³ Although we live in the world, we don’t fight our battles with human methods. ⁴ Our weapons that we fight with aren’t human, but instead they are powered by God for the destruction of fortresses. They destroy arguments,

2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 Lexham English Bible (LEB)

Paul’s Prayer Request

3 Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may progress and be honored, just as also it was with you, ² and that we may be delivered from evil and wicked people, for not all have the faith^[a]. ³ But the Lord is faithful, who will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. ⁴ And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are both doing and you will do the things that we are commanding. ⁵ Now may the Lord direct your hearts toward the love of God and toward the patient endurance of Christ.

Another School Shooting.

There's been another tragic school shooting. This time a short distance from my home in the small town of Santa Fe, Texas.The shooter, a kid himself, a student from the same school of the students he murdered. It is so very difficult to understand how this could happen. What causes someone to murder without empathy for those they kill? ….. There have been more mass shootings since I started this post, almost a common occurrence. Will we ever see a time of peace?

As I was thinking about these shootings, I've seen some similarities between them. The shooters are pretty much loners and have a hard time fitting in and are drawn into groups which are not the right groups for them to be in. These groups are residual groups from the Hitler and Nazis era.

These groups are centered around Nazism, Fascism, Supremacism. I read that Fascism was first used during WW1 in Italy. Hitler and the Nazis successfully used it to gain control of Germany. It is a type of propaganda that manipulates the mind. I don't know if these groups are really aware of the hate they breed, or is it their goal and what they believe in? They usually pick out groups of people to blame for the problems we face. Even the problems themselves get over exaggerated. They also stir up hate towards anyone who goes against them. The more they blame and the more that people listen then things happen, like they did when Hitler was in control of Germany; millions of people are murdered. People get pulled into believing something and when evil things happen, it becomes like a run away train; it is almost impossible to stop.

Let me give you some fuel for thought. I am a Vietnam vet. When I got out of the service, there were no welcome home ceremonies. I wanted friends but it was like I had a curse on me and people didn't want to associate with me, at least that was my impression then. I found a few friends, just not the right ones. One was a gay male. I didn't really know he was gay until he invited me out to go to a bar one evening. I expected we were just going out for some drinks. When we went inside, I could see this was not the typical bar like I had frequented before. Men were with men and girls with girls, for the most part, a gay bar. It took me by surprise. I didn't know there was such a thing as gay bars. I could have left the bar when I understood but I didn't. I had some drinks and at some point passed out. When I came too, my gay friend was carrying me into my apartment. He had his way with me, I let him, he left to go back to his apartment, and I cried. I talked with God and cried. I remembered asking Christ into my life as a teenager and asked God how did my life get to be the way it was at that point. I thought maybe I messed up somehow the first time I asked Jesus into my life and that is how I got to this low point in my life. So, I asked Jesus back into my life, I started to attend a non-denominational church that my brother was going to and my life changed for the better. I met good friends there and felt welcomed into the young singles group. It was here I met my wonderful wife. We have been married now 44 years this coming August. We have two wonderful girls. I feel so blessed to have such beautiful children. One is married and has a very good relationship with her husband. They have four marvelous children who we adore. Our other daughter is nothing like her sister. I think one might say that she is a free spirit. She is not married so does the things she wants to do. She has and is still traveling the world and has seen beautiful amazing places. We love to see the pictures she's taken.

Let me go back to the time I met this gay man. What happened with him is really what changed my life so in a way, I consider that to be a blessing. I think he must have had misgivings about me and I of him. I feel no animosity towards him. He is gay, I am not. I can't say I really understand homo sexuality but I believe it is real and something that can't be changed for those who really believe they were born into the wrong body. How does one explain people who are born with both sex organs? It happens, it's real. I leave the things I don't understand to God Who knows everything about everyone.

God has said that we are all sinners. We have all disobeyed His teachings, His laws. We don't seek after God or want to get to know Him. After all, we can't see Him. But, Jesus being in the image of God the Father came into this world to tell and to show those who were with Him what God is really like. He fervently cared for people. He healed them, fed them, made the blind to see, made the dead to come back to life, and He taught them all about God and told us how we should live. He gave us two commandments which sums up all of God's commandments; love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, and to love thy neighbor as thy self (These are all peoples, even our enemies.) What is so amazing is that while we were all doing our thing, sinning against God, He (Jesus) died for us, in our place. All our transgressions were laid upon Him. He loved us so much that He did that for us all! This doesn't mean that we are free to go on sinning. After knowing this and accepting His gift, if we go on sinning, it is like putting Him to death all over again. We all need help not to sin. Inviting Jesus into our lives is how we get help. The Holy Spirit is our helper and Jesus our teacher.

Let me just close with this that has to do with those who may become future mass murders. If we as individuals could see others who have a hard time fitting in and could just love them the way they are. Bring them into good groups who will welcome them in as they are and not try to shove religion down their throats. They first have to be able to see something different in this group as appose to what they know. Let me just say this too. People can sense when others are not genuine, that they are just doing it out of a sense of obligation, it's not from the heart.

This about the heart brings to memory of another post I wrote about the heart, "The Heart - It's Not Just A Pump". You might find this interesting.