Loving Your Enemies

May 11, 2023

Why is it so important to love your enemies?

The Lord gives us the perfect answer to this question in 1 John 4:7 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” The fact of the matter is our heavenly Father is absolute love and it is our responsibility to share the love of God to everyone around us including our enemies.

We might be the only representation of the Lord Jesus Christ that they will ever encounter; we need to make sure that we are exhibiting His characteristics at all times. I know that it is easier said than done especially when the enemy that you are facing daily is a family member, co-worker, and unfortunately sometimes a best friend.

It is in our human nature to want to retaliate when we feel like something was done to us that was completely unjustified. The only way that you are going to be able to refrain from wanting to seek revenge is through the power of the Holy Spirit. It takes an extreme level of love residing in your heart to love those that consistently talk about you, disrespect you, and intentionally hurt you!

One thing that I have come to realize as a Christian is that life is completely spiritual. The people with the nasty attitude, the vulgar mouth, and the uncontrollable rage are dealing with things that one cannot see with the naked eye. The enemy and his demonic kingdom use these kind of adverse characteristics to keep people bound. Once you view your enemies from a spiritual lens, your feelings of wanting to retaliate will turn into feelings of understanding.

We have no idea what that person is going through in their daily life or what battles they are facing. We need to make an intentional effort to come from a place of understanding. They could be dealing with demonic oppression that is causing them to act the way that they do. That is why it is so significant to love on your enemies; you could be the one that helps them get set free!

I am going to go over some verses of Scripture that will shed some light on the importance of loving your enemies!

Proverbs 25:21-22

“If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; For so you will heap coals of fire on his head, And the Lord will reward you.”

In these bible verses of Scripture out of the Old Testament the Lord is making it clear to us how He expects us to treat our enemies. We are to feed them if they are hungry and give them water if they are thirsty. In other words He doesn’t want you to treat them any differently than you would treat someone that was very close to you.

It is easy to love the people that love you back, but one of the great challenges that we face is loving those that openly hate us. As children of God we have the Spirit of Christ that lives on the inside of us. He is the One that will give you the strength and power to overcome your natural emotions of wanting to hate and retaliate.

These verses of Scripture are disclosing to us what happens when we follow the Lord’s commandments regarding our enemies. One example is: “…you will heap coals of fire on his head…” For instance, the person that is treating you in a foul manner will never expect you to respond with love. It will cause them to be completely confused.

Your reaction towards them will cause them to have feelings of remorse for how badly they have been behaving towards you. This type of love is probably foreign to them but it makes them wonder why. Why are you not choosing to react? This is the perfect opening for you to share the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 23:34

“Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots.”

A lot of people have a hard time showing pure love to those that give off hate. Let’s take a look at the absolute love of the Lord Jesus Christ in the last moments of His life on Earth. In this verse of Scripture from the New Testament we find the words of Jesus as He pleads to the Father to forgive the ones that put Him on the cross to die. His love was so pure and unconditional that He had compassion even for His enemies responsible for His death.

The following statement in this passage is very profound regarding the wicked hearts of man, it states “…And they divided His garments and cast lots.” Just picture it; the moment that the Lord is pleading to God on behalf of His enemies, they are splitting up the little that He had while mocking Him in the process. Christ is displaying the perfect example of how to love your adversaries. How many of us would have handled that situation the same way?

It is challenging for some of us to even be in the same room with someone that we are at odds with. The reason is because we allow our flesh to take over in moments when people rub us the wrong way, become disrespectful, or do something that we deem unforgiveable. We were created in the image of God and He expects us to display the fruit of His Spirit which includes love.

I have several articles regarding the fruit of the Spirit: Fruit of the Spirit (Self-Control), Fruit of the Spirit (Gentleness), The Fruit of the Spirit (Faithfulness), The Fruit of the Spirit (Goodness), The Fruit of the Spirit (Kindness), The Fruit of the Spirit (Longsuffering), The Fruit of the Spirit (Peace), The Fruit of the Spirit (Joy), and The Fruit of the Spirit (Love).

One of the most difficult things to do is love on those that are intentionally hurting you. The type of love that it takes to look past another person’s viciousness can only be established by the renewal of your mind and the power of the Holy Spirit. He is the One that will help you consistently show the love of Jesus Christ even in the most trying situations.

Romans 12:14-15

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”

These verses of Scripture out of the book of Romans disclose to us exactly how we will know if we truly have genuine love for our enemies. He specifically says that we are to bless them, rejoice with them, and weep with them. In other words: they should be in your daily prayers, when something good happens in their lives you are to rejoice with them, and when something bad happens to them you are to weep with them.

When you can do these things and not feel any resentment or bitterness in your heart, you know that you are on the right path. It is easy to say that you have forgiven the people that have hurt you in the past but it is another thing to actually mean it. The way that you treat your adversaries is what will reveal your level of forgiveness. Do you get agitated when they walk into the room? If you do, you might have some built up animosity that still needs to be dealt with.

Remember forgiving someone doesn’t mean that you are saying that what they did to you was okay; it is saying that you are not going to allow what they did to create any negativity in your heart. God’s Word is very plain in multiple passages of Scripture about how He expects His children to treat others. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Keep that commandment in mind when you want to get even at someone that has done you wrong. Think back on every time that you did something to someone that you regret because it hurt them. Would you want them to forgive you for the mistakes that you made? That same mind-set applies to the people that have transgressed against you. You want to treat them exactly as you would want to be treated especially when it comes to forgiveness.

Conclusion

God’s love and God’s grace is given to us freely; we don’t have to earn it. He is absolute love meaning that He loves each and every one of us unconditionally no matter what. As children of God we are held to a certain standard because we are the Lord’s representation here on Earth. He expects us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves and that includes even the ones that radiate hatred.

It won’t always be easy but the good thing is that we have the power of the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us. He is the One that will give you the strength to overcome your flesh when it wants to rise up to seek revenge against the people that hurt you. It takes a level of great understanding to have the ability to put your difficult situations into the hands of God to handle.

The Lord is very clear on this matter when He states in Romans 12:19, “…Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.” Our job is to love everyone with the love of Jesus Christ no matter what. He sees everything that is going on around you so you have to be willing to trust Him enough to put your enemies in their place when He needs to. Trust and believe me, He will!

Also, don’t forget to check out my other blogs:

How to share your Testimony

The Importance of Renewing Your Mind!

The Spiritual Laws of God-Poverty Part 1

The Spiritual Laws of God-Poverty Part 2

The Spiritual Laws of God-Restoration

The Spiritual Laws of God-The General Principles

The Spiritual Laws of God-The Power of Your Tongue!

The Spiritual Laws of God-Having an Understanding

If you’ve missed any of the other weekly quotes, no worries I am listing them down below:

Positive Quote for the Week: Be Kind!

Positive Quote for the Week: Be You!