Having recently memorized the "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5, 6 & 7), I confess that it is my least favorite passage of Scripture to recite on my drive into work in the mornings. Not because it isn't profound or true or brilliant, for it is all those things, but because it is a mirror into my own heart and soul and I do not like what I see. At all. Take just this one passage, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you…" (Matthew 5:44, NKJV).
Love, bless, do good and pray. These are short, succinct and easy to understand commands; nothing ceremonial, complicated or ritualistic about them. These are direct action verbs. My problem is not what the words mean, for that is simple enough.
'Love' is agape-love, that description coined in the Greek New Testament to convey God's divine, sacrificial, unconditional love toward sinful humanity. That same love that drove Jesus to die on the Cross in payment of our debt. That same love that is defined in Paul's letter to the Corinthian church: "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…" (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
'Bless' in the context of human-to-human interaction means to make happy, to cause to prosper, to wish someone well, to ask God's favor for someone.
'Do good' refers to behaving rightly, so that there shall be no room for blame; to treat another well, truly, excellently, nobly, commendably, honorably.
'Pray' is to intercede for good on behalf of another before God. It is the equivalent of going into the throne room of a powerful, sovereign ruler and imploring him or her to use that power and sovereign authority in a way that well benefit, not yourself, but another person.
Truthfully, I have an immense difficulty in doing these things consistently and effectively for my dearest loved ones, let alone my close friends or 'mere' acquaintances. But to be commanded by the Lord Himself to do these things for my hate-filled enemies is, well, beyond my comprehension and my real problem. It goes against every natural inclination of my being. My enemies want me gone or dead, or want to inflict me with pain or hardship.
As a Christian, I understand that the world hates me (“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." - John 15:18, 19, NKJV; "Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you." - 1 John 3:13, NKJV). And frankly, when I am safe and sound, I have no real problem hating the world right back. Sadly, hating those who hate me is something I'm good at.
But as a follower of Christ, I am more than my "natural inclination". I am more than my "lack of comprehension". I am more than my facility to sin. I am a child of the Most-High God by adoption through faith. I am a new creation. I have been made free from the slavery of sin. My citizenship is in Heaven, and my purpose in life is to be conformed into the image of God's Son. And that is precisely why I am commanded to love my enemies; not because I am good at it, or like it, or understand it, but simply because I am to follow Him, and that is exactly what He did. The world hated Him, but He loved the world, even to the point of death on the Cross.
I do not like it, but after all the smoke of my resistance clears, I am immensely thankful that My God commands me to love my enemies. I am thankful that He is that kind of God, who Himself loved those who persecuted Him and sought to kill Him. I am thankful that my Savior loved the world that hated Him, because I was part of that hate-filled legion, and He forgave me and loved me enough to die for me. "“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends." (John 15:13, NKJV).
Love, bless, do good and pray. These are short, succinct and easy to understand commands; nothing ceremonial, complicated or ritualistic about them. These are direct action verbs. My problem is not what the words mean, for that is simple enough.
'Love' is agape-love, that description coined in the Greek New Testament to convey God's divine, sacrificial, unconditional love toward sinful humanity. That same love that drove Jesus to die on the Cross in payment of our debt. That same love that is defined in Paul's letter to the Corinthian church: "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…" (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
'Bless' in the context of human-to-human interaction means to make happy, to cause to prosper, to wish someone well, to ask God's favor for someone.
'Do good' refers to behaving rightly, so that there shall be no room for blame; to treat another well, truly, excellently, nobly, commendably, honorably.
'Pray' is to intercede for good on behalf of another before God. It is the equivalent of going into the throne room of a powerful, sovereign ruler and imploring him or her to use that power and sovereign authority in a way that well benefit, not yourself, but another person.
Truthfully, I have an immense difficulty in doing these things consistently and effectively for my dearest loved ones, let alone my close friends or 'mere' acquaintances. But to be commanded by the Lord Himself to do these things for my hate-filled enemies is, well, beyond my comprehension and my real problem. It goes against every natural inclination of my being. My enemies want me gone or dead, or want to inflict me with pain or hardship.
As a Christian, I understand that the world hates me (“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." - John 15:18, 19, NKJV; "Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you." - 1 John 3:13, NKJV). And frankly, when I am safe and sound, I have no real problem hating the world right back. Sadly, hating those who hate me is something I'm good at.
But as a follower of Christ, I am more than my "natural inclination". I am more than my "lack of comprehension". I am more than my facility to sin. I am a child of the Most-High God by adoption through faith. I am a new creation. I have been made free from the slavery of sin. My citizenship is in Heaven, and my purpose in life is to be conformed into the image of God's Son. And that is precisely why I am commanded to love my enemies; not because I am good at it, or like it, or understand it, but simply because I am to follow Him, and that is exactly what He did. The world hated Him, but He loved the world, even to the point of death on the Cross.
I do not like it, but after all the smoke of my resistance clears, I am immensely thankful that My God commands me to love my enemies. I am thankful that He is that kind of God, who Himself loved those who persecuted Him and sought to kill Him. I am thankful that my Savior loved the world that hated Him, because I was part of that hate-filled legion, and He forgave me and loved me enough to die for me. "“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends." (John 15:13, NKJV).
