Author | Lydia Rice |
Why am I writing about the most basic commandment in the Bible? More bewilderingly, why was I inspired to write about my enemies? Normally, the only time I think of my enemies is when I’m standing before my huge cork board littered with plans for their destruction (Yes, I’m kidding, the cork board's strictly reserved for world domination plans.)
Seriously though, just this month, my church began reading through Luke. I was doing great but then I got to chapter 6 with the subheading “Love for Enemies.” I read it and slammed that Bible shut. “Well, God. You, uh, you were certainly aiming for me with this one…I need to think...” And I did and now you’re all stuck with this article, so hallelujah, praise Jesus.
Okay, I gotta be honest.
I love having enemies!
It brings me joy. The banter! The disdain! The loathing! It’s all terribly fun. Of course, that brings us to our first point.
1. Check yourself and know when it’s serious
It’s easy to have a rivalry or a sarcastic banter-filled relationship with people and not realize the hate’s getting kinda real. People love to gossip, talk trash, and generally spill that tea.
Everyone’s been in middle school, some of us have been in high school, and if there’s one thing that never changes, it’s the drama.
Pretty much everyone has that one person that all their friends know they can’t stand. Reality is that controversy makes things more exciting…..for some.
Maybe you think it’s all jokes and don’t realize you’re being a jerk. Maybe it’s easy to get caught up in joking about disliking someone so much that you get stuck in a mentality of “can't stand that person” just because. So, the first step is to watch out for when not liking someone turns into kinda maybe sort of hating them.
And that conveniently brings me to my next point...
2. Casual contempt is easy (and also bad)
Most people are naturally judgy. We decide who we really like, who we feel ambivalent about, and who we would rather not be in the same room with all in the first three classes of the school year.
To be clear, it’s okay to not like someone. God doesn’t say we have to like everyone, he says we have to love them - respect them as fellow flawed human beings and love them as His creation. More on that later…
When we disdain someone so much that we don’t start to see them as human anymore, that’s a problem.
The thing is we rarely think of people we don’t like as our enemies. Generally speaking, if someone were to ask, “Do you hate that person? Are they your enemy?” the normal reaction is, “No! They’re just annoying, but I don’t hate them.” That makes sense. Hate is a pretty strong word.
But think of the follow-up, “If you don’t hate them, why do you act like it?” If your actions show you hate someone, then maybe you need to rethink how you’re treating that person.
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Let’s take a step back for a bit now. Why did I write this? It wasn’t the idea of “love your enemies” that got me. We’ve all heard that so much, it’s kinda become trite.
But Luke - or rather Jesus - had some specific key points to make, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them.’ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that...But love your enemies, do good to them and lend without expecting to get anything back.” (Luke 6:32-35 NIV)
3. On hypocrisy
I fully admit I’m a hypocrite and this verse slammed me right in the face.
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them.’”
I love doing nice things for people...people that I like. I have a certified system and everything.
I like them, they like me, I do nice things for them, they like me more, I receive praise and adoration.
That’s how it goes.
This verse really truly made me realize how much I don’t extend that same courtesy to people I don’t like. Imagine going out of your way to be nice to people you don’t like. Not people that don’t like you in a bid to win them over, but people that you don’t like.
And while we’re on the subject of hypocrisy, maybe it’s easy to feel vindicated by this. We’ve all been ignored or disliked or shut out by Christians - people that should be doing the exact opposite. It’s easy to see why some see Christianity as a hypocritical religion, but the point is that we do mess up. We are mean. We do shut people out. We aren’t better than anyone else. Christianity is a religion of sinners for sinners.
It would be great if our school was filled with perfect people that were perfect role models and who trusted Jesus all the time. But, Jesus did not come for the perfect, born and bred Christians. Jesus came for the sinners.
Again, I want to be clear. This doesn’t absolve Christians of their responsibility to imitate Jesus. We will never be perfect, but we should still try. We must be humble enough to acknowledge our own brokenness, wise enough to realize that Jesus sacrificed for our sins, kind enough to repay that favor to others, and strong enough to hold fellow Christians accountable.
And speaking of accountability…
4. That subject I’ve avoided.
All of this has mostly been presented in the context of people you may treat like enemies and may have contempt for, but do not truly hate. It’s an important, and largely more applicable, aspect of “love thy enemy.” It’s difficult because it’s sneaky. Somewhat paradoxically, it can be easier to excuse being mean to someone if they aren’t your enemy, just some annoying kid in your Algebra class. The people that, if asked, you wouldn’t describe saying, “I truly hate them.”
But, let me be honest again, there are some people that if you asked me “do you hate them?” my inner self would be screaming “YES! YES! YES! CAST THEM INTO THE SUN!”
And if you asked me, “How can I love someone that I truly hate?” I would have no more lists because I am sixteen and I am human and when I do hate, I hate passionately.
Easy solution. Don’t ask me. Pray. Seek God, and as an example...
Ask Corrie Ten Boom, who survived the concentration camps to forgive her Nazi captors. Ask the Holy Spirit, who gives us peace. Ask Jesus, who hung on a cross, dying and in the worst pain imaginable, and forgave those mocking him.
“Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.” - Corrie Ten Boom
Title credits to Emma Harper cause I stole her catchphrase “Oh boy”