The Impossible-ness of Loving Our Enemies
I’m still reading a book by Kenneth E. Hagin entitled, ‘Love: The Way to Victory’ and he said something that though I thought I knew, I actually understand now. He said,
‘…praying for our enemies has a lot to do with walking in the God-kind of love.’
That statement is powerful because it takes a God-kind-of-love, to love someone, that for all intents and purposes, you should very well hate. Yet God commands us to in Matthew 5:44 which says, “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…”
Thankfully, that’s a commandment because if we had to do this, in and of ourselves, it would take an unnerving STRENGTH and an abundance of MATURITY on top of a never-ending OBEDIENCE and a robust DISCIPLINE for the things of God. But more than anything, it’s going to take the power of God and faith in that power to love an enemy which means your focus can’t be on you or your enemy. You’re only going to be able to get this done when you want to obey and please God more than you want to get that get back.
And though you can simply go through the motions of trying to be nice to your enemies’, those niceties won’t last long. The longstanded-ness or the wherewithal of keeping the commandment lies in your desire to want to do it because you want to please God.
When I thought about that, I remembered that on several occasions Jesus checked the Pharisees, Sadducees, elders, and lawyers ON SIGHT. In an odd kind of way, I thought I had cornered God. I was like, “Is that the type of love You’re talking about? Cause I can do that.” God was like, “Nope!” Then He quickly reminded me of Judas.
A perfect example of how were supposed to love our enemies can be found with Judas because remember: Jesus knew that Judas was His betrayer, yet He kept him around.
“Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?”
John 6:70
Not only did the Lord choose Judas but He kept him on staff. That means He paid him. By doing so, He was putting into practice Matthew 5:44. But He was only able to do so because He too had a God-kind-of-live. And I know that sounds strange, to actually pay your enemy to stay around, but by doing so, the Lord didn’t have to take care of Judas. Judas took care of himself. Am I saying that your enemies will commit suicide? No, not at all! But if they remain your enemies, they too will eventually do something suicidal that will remove them from your situation.
Again, I know what we’re discussing at the start of 2022 is next level. I mean next, next level. Almost impossible. But God is a God of possibilities which means He must have impossible things in store for us this year. But in order to receive and achieve them, we must get our love walk in order.
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