Loving our Enemies: the illogical command.

"But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,"  Matthew 5:44 (NIV)

Another year passes by 9/11 and now the President has just asked us to be ready and WILLING to bomb Syria (should diplomacy not work); both make me think of perhaps Jesus' most controversial command to us: love your enemy.

But what does this mean?  Really?

Are we truly to love those who persecute us?  Who wish to kill us?  Who wish to harm us?

Well, if we read on in the Bible passage...the short answers is: yes.

Jesus gives us examples of loving our enemies, but guess what he doesn't give us?

Exceptions.

In my opinion, this command, while tough, couldn't be any clearer.

But yet, we can find Christians who will argue and run through a list of "what ifs" as evidence that Jesus couldn't REALLY mean what he said.

Love God?  Can do.
Love my neighbor?  You got it.
Love my enemies?  Well, let's not be so hasty!  I might need some clarification - and by that I mean: you can't be serious?

Sure, I can love the guy that just cut me off in traffic.  I can love the guy at work that seems to hate me for no good reason.

But you can't expect me to love __________(insert your exception here).

I know, there are days when I wish Jesus didn't give us this command - it would make things SOOOO much easier.

But he did.

And for a reason.

1) because WE are someones enemy...

I know, we like to think we are perfect, but guess what?  We're not!  I guarantee you, right now, there is someone that can put you in their list of perceived enemies or they just plain don't like you.

And this means something even more, but I'll get back to it...

2) because Jesus loved (and still loves) his enemies...

If Jesus' enemies are good enough for HIS love, then our enemies certainly are more than worthy of OUR less than stellar love.

3) because Jesus said so.

Serious, it's a command that is non-negotiable and not to be taken lightly or debated by us looking for loop holes.  Because of this simple, yet profound, truth: if we truly are looking at people with the heart and through the eyes of Jesus, we have NO enemies.

Did Jesus see enemies?  No.  He saw lost sheep, and lost shepherds too.  Oh, he got on the shepherds, let's not kid ourselves, but he did not see them as enemies..."God forgive them for they know not what they do..."

And, because WE may think someone is our enemy, does that mean they truly are?

Well, let's put it back on us, because someone thinks WE are their enemy, does that mean we truly are?

The answer is no, to both.

And 4) this command is logically impossible.

You can't love your enemy.  For once you love them, they are no longer your enemy but a loved one.  The very nature and act of love removes someone from the enemy list.


If we are loving them, if we love them, they cannot be our enemy because to be our enemy means we do not love them.

Jesus was quite a clever guy.

By giving us an illogical command, he points out one of our biggest failures: to love.

So the question, "How do we love our enemy?"  Is a trick question...

You can't, because if you truly love your enemy, you don't have any enemies...all you have is "neighbors."

And what are we to do with our neighbors?  Love them.  Not ONLY love them, but love them as we love ourselves...or better in some cases.

And yes, some neighbors are "better" neighbors than others, but...

Okay, but what does this look like in practice and in our lives?

Well, folks, I'm going to have to defer to the expert on this: God.

You want to really know what this means in YOUR life, you have to turn to the author of your life and find out from Him.

Can't use me as a cop out.

Hell, I'm working this out on my own...I'd be a poor example to go by!

But God will be more than happy to tell you...if you're truly willing to listen...