“Love your enemy” doesn’t mean that you should send them directions to your secret hiding place.
Psalm 32:6-7
When I was a kid, one of the coolest things that my friends and I could do was to build a hideout. Of course, no girls were allowed but the point of this post is not to discuss how stupid I was back then!
But anyway, it was our little secret… or so we thought. 🙂 We’d make each other swear that we wouldn’t tell anyone. It was a sacred trust between eight-year-olds that grew life-long friendships and cherished memories.
Now, fast forward to adulthood…
We’re not building forts and hiding places anymore but we’re still protective about our safety and privacy.
Today’s Tiny Words. Big Life. quote might be a little too silly to get an important point across. I hope not but sometimes silliness can get you thinkin’…
Even if you’re not a regular church-goer, you’re probably familiar with the following phrase that Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, as recorded in Matthew 5.
“Love your enemies.”
It sounds good and we know we should, but before we can do it, we have to know who our enemy is.
Is it the person that steals our parking spot in a crowded Wal-Mart parking lot? Well, at that moment, the answer is a definite “Yes!”.
What about people that want to kill us because we’re Americans? That’s an easy one. Yes.
Think about this one… How about people who try to take away the very thing that makes us a Christian… our faith and obedience to God? Are they our enemy? Without question… Yes.
So how do we love them?
First of all, we’re not talking about a “send roses” kind of love – we’re talking about the kind of love that will cause you to pray for those people – that they’ll turn to Jesus, away from evil and hatred.
On a side note, whenever I talk about Christian love, I find that I’m compelled to defend our faith.
Why?
Because we’re at war.
In today’s western culture, (the US mainly), Christians are subjected to a double-standard in which our own words are used against us… to silence us. The word “love” has come to mean that in order to love someone, you can’t rebuke their actions (sin). Not only that, you have to make public statements that you condone their sinful actions as being good and acceptable.
What they don’t understand (or want to admit) is that rebuke is not an indication of hate but an outward sign of love. If we didn’t care for them, we’d let them do whatever they wanted, to slide into the depths of their wickedness and be done with it.
On a personal note, that sounds pretty good sometimes…
But Christian love wants all sinners to be saved.
Just a word of caution… When we allow our enemies to silence us, we’re not living the Christian life that Jesus commands us to do. We’re called to be strong in the faith and speak the truth, even in the face of persecution.
So, just to be clear, “Love your enemies.” is not a command to lay down for others to trample on the name of Jesus. And it doesn’t mean that we should sit back as the mouths of the Evil One paint Christianity as “hate speech”.
As Christians, we have a responsibility to protect ourselves and those we love from people who will do us harm – both physical and spiritual. We’re called to steward our families with protection to keep them safe and striving for holiness – to be more like Jesus.
Today’s Tiny Words. Big Life. Bible verses find King David praising God for His grace and mercy. He was also thanking God for being his protection – his hiding place. In today’s language, King David is saying that God is his “safe house” – somewhere that his enemies cannot reach him.
So how do we, as Christians, reconcile Jesus’s teaching to love your enemies and King David’s praise to God for providing a hiding place?
Before answering that question, I have another word of caution:
Don’t overthink it. Don’t let the worldview crowd out the basics of how we’re supposed to live.
The Tiny Words. Big Life. takeaway is this: Pray to love all people. Never stop praying for that. Do everything you can to demonstrate your love for others – not for the admiration but for the joy that others will receive. Then, pray for protection. God doesn’t want us harmed. That’s not to say that bad things will never happen because they will. God wants us to persevere. He wants us to trust in Him and see His love in all the things we encounter in life. If we’ll do that, our walk with Him will be so much closer and our lives will be blessed with riches beyond comprehension.
And about those riches… You won’t need a hiding place because they can’t be taken from you – not even by girls. 🙂
Psalm 32:6-7
6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you
while you may be found;
surely the rising of the mighty waters
will not reach them.
7 You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.