Grateful for my Enemies

““You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.”‭‭

Matthew‬ ‭5:43-47‬ ‭MSG‬‬ 

I love the way the message version breaks down this passage. We’ve often heard that we should love our enemies and pray for them. It’s a task not many of us do wholeheartedly, or at all for that matter. But this message version says that we should “let them bring out the best in us“. Let’s think about that for a moment. Our enemies often challenge us, pokes at our imperfections, and points out our insecurities. Those things often hurt us to our core but along with forgiving the person and praying for them that God would change their heart, we should always look at the lesson that they are teaching us.

Think of this simple analogy. Sandpaper is rough, it scrapes, scratches, and tears away a layer of whatever it is rubbing against but that process is often necessary to produce a smooth surface. While what your enemy did may be difficult to encounter and go through resign that you are going to allow your enemies to make you better and as you heal from those scratches you will come out a better person.

Think of a specific person or situation that has hurt you within the last few months. Take a moment to pray for healing for yourself and for the betterment of that person.