Enemy Love

You have heard the law that says, “Love your neighbor” and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! – Matthew 5:43–44

Many times, anger is driven by broken relationships. We might think of people who have broken trust or wounded us to be our enemies. We feel justified in our anger toward them. We think that if other people heard what happened to us, they would understand our anger and probably take our side.

Well, Jesus has another approach—to love our enemies. It’s hard to even imagine what that means when we have so much anger toward those who have caused tremendous pain in our lives. What does it mean to love them?

It starts with another teaching of Jesus: forgiveness. To love our enemies means to forgive them. Forgiveness releases them of any obligation to us. It doesn’t make the wrong right; rather, it frees us from the wrong. Sometimes people mistakenly think forgiveness means we are OK with the offense. This isn’t true. Forgiveness doesn’t correct the offense; it begins the healing process for us.

Another part of loving our enemies is praying for them. This act is probably even more difficult to comprehend than forgiving them. Jesus teaches us to love our enemies because doing so heals our hearts. Loving our enemies doesn’t mean we will be in a relationship with them. That is dependent on their work of restitution with us. If reconciliation happens, that is wonderful. But many times it doesn’t.

As long as we nurture our offense, our anger takes root in our hearts and begins to affect everything in our lives. By loving our enemies, we free ourselves from the past. The process of forgiveness and healing is not quick and easy, but it is the way Jesus taught us to live our lives, and it’s the best way.

Forgiveness is above all a personal choice, a decision of the heart to go against natural instinct to pay back evil with evil. – Pope John Paul II

Forgiveness does not mean ignoring what has been done or putting a false label on an evil act. It means, rather, that the evil act no longer remains as a barrier to the relationship. Forgiveness is a catalyst creating the atmosphere necessary for a fresh start and a new beginning. – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Lord Jesus, help me forgive those who have hurt me. Heal my wounds and allow me to live in freedom. Thank you for loving me and for helping me as I love my enemies. Amen.

Taken from 100 Days to Freedom from Anger copyright © 2021 by Stephen Arterburn and Becky Brown. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.