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 (NLT)]
When thou hatest the man’s sins, thou art not to hate him, but to love the sinner, even as Christ loved sinners. [C.H. Spurgeon]
Evil is anything that contradicts the nature of God and it’s easy to see Satan’s presence in malevolent acts like terrorism, genocide, slavery, torture, and human trafficking. The enemy, however, is usually far more subtle. Evil also includes things like anger, pride, fretfulness, immorality, pettiness, selfishness, deceit, envy, spite, unforgiveness, hatred, hypocrisy, envy, jealousy, greed, and unkindness. Although we’re more likely to find them in our hearts than genocide or murder, they’re not as easy to recognize. Because it’s easier to see the evil done by others than it is to face the evil in our hearts, we don’t spot Satan when he comes slithering into our lives.
When seeing how innocent people are suffering because of the indifference, injustice, viciousness, bigotry, and greed of various governments and leaders, it’s easy to get outraged and aggravated. Satan wants that anger to grow and develop in us. He loves anger because our wrath, spite, contempt, disdain, and condemnation diminish us, the Christ within us, and our witness. Nevertheless, it’s easy to be angry and wish disaster on any one of today’s evil leaders and their ilk.
That we never would physically harm someone doesn’t make our anger less a sin than if we murdered them! That we’re angry on someone else’s behalf or that the other people’s sins have harmed people while ours have harmed no one (but ourselves) is of no matter. Malicious hatred and private vengeance have no place in our hearts. They are an offense to God and Jesus made it clear that hating someone is committing murder in our hearts! While we can be angry at sin, let us remember that we don’t defeat evil with more of the same! Rather than wanting to afflict our enemies, Jesus asks us to love and pray for them.
Struggling with praying for his enemies during World War II, the great C.S. Lewis admitted that “charity (in our prayers) is very hard work.” The theologian questioned how one can pray for Stalin and Hitler and still make the prayer real. He found it helped him to remember that Christ died for those very men and that he was joining his “feeble little voice” to that of Jesus. Recognizing his own sins of cruelty and unkindness, Lewis humbly realized he wasn’t that different from his enemies; he was no less a sinner than were these horrible men. He also considered the possibility that, under different circumstances, he could have “blossomed” into someone equally as terrible as were they.
Before hating the evil in the world, we must begin by hating the evil in ourselves! Let us surrender our vengeful thoughts to Jesus, ask for forgiveness, and allow His love to rule our hearts as we pray for our enemies. We can’t do it on our own but, through the power of the Holy Spirit, it can and must be done!
Agape is disinterested love. Agape does not begin by discriminating between worthy and unworthy people, or any qualities people possess. It begins by loving others for their sakes. Therefore, agape makes no distinction between friend and enemy; it is directed toward both. [Martin Luther King, Jr.]
When writing about nitroglycerin recently, I realized there’s something else in our lives much like this strange chemical that is both helpful and harmful. Like nitroglycerin, man’s capabilities are a dichotomy between good and evil, constructive and destructive, and beneficial or detrimental. The same mind capable of creating a vaccine that saves thousands of lives is capable of creating a nuclear bomb that can take those lives. James speaks of this incongruity when writing about the way we use our words, “We use our tongues to praise our Lord and Father, but then we curse people, whom God made like himself. Praises and curses come from the same mouth! My brothers and sisters, this should not happen.” [3:9-10]
Aaron’s four sons were priests and, in Leviticus 10, his oldest sons Nadab and Abihu offer incense to God in the Tabernacle. The incense symbolized the people’s prayers rising up to God and the coals used for burning it were to be taken from the altar of burnt offerings outside the sanctuary. Although priests were required to fulfill their duties precisely, Scripture tells us the two offered “strange” or “unauthorized” fire and were immediately consumed by fire from God!
Because the literacy rate in the 1st century was around 10 to 15%, only a few people could read the Hebrew Scriptures or Apostolic letters. By necessity, the new faith came about through public reading and preaching. In his letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul warned of a time when sound doctrine would no longer be tolerated. Rather than reproof, rebuke, exhortation, and instruction, people would want to have their itching ears knéthó (meaning tickled or scratched). Rather than knowledge and doctrine, they’d be more interested in myths, sensationalism, and viewpoints suiting their desires. I fear that time has come!
I began my prayer with the words of John Baille found in A Diary of Private Prayer. He opened the prayer by praising the “Lord and Maker of all things” for things like “the life that stirs within me” and “the bright and beautiful world around me.” But it was the inclusion of “all you have given me to fill my hours of leisure…music and books and good company and all the harmless and delightful pleasures” that gave me pause. How often do we offer praise and thanksgiving for “leisure” and the “delightful pleasures” of life? Do we regularly praise and thank Him for the taste of strawberries, the scent of lilacs, the joy of making love, napping in a hammock on a summer day, enjoying a latte and a fresh-baked almond croissant, completing a sudoku or crossword puzzle, a good workout at the gym, a game of mahjong or golf with friends, snuggling on the sofa with the cat, eating s’mores around a campfire, playing Crazy 8’s or Uno with the kids, binge watching Netflix on a rainy day, or warm apple pie with vanilla ice cream? Each of us has our favorite leisure activities and sources of pleasure and yet pleasure is not one of the words typically associated with Christian belief. In fact, many consider pleasures to be the devil’s tool used to keep us from a godly life!
When the nation of Israel was established, God said He’d be their king. But the people wanted an earthy king like the nations surrounding them so Saul became king. Samuel told Israel that, as long as they and their king walked with God, all would go well for the nation. Reminding the people to remember all the wonderful things God did for them, Samuel cautioned Israel. If they persisted in rebellion and disobedience, there would be serious trouble: they and their king would be banished (a prophecy of their eventual exile).
Devotions of the Heart 