Love Your Enemy

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Luke 6:27 to 36

This week has been a trying week.  I have been crying out to God to help me show love to others.  The hardest of all is showing them to people whom you feel angry towards to.

Work for me has been exhausting.  I feel that my tasks have been increasing and I haven't been able to finish them in the time frame I have.  I do feel it's unfair that there's a lot on my plate, I do feel that I'm being a slave to my job and my passion for it is gone.  That what I do now is just a job, nothing more.  I lost my confidence in doing my tasks, in being good at what I do.  There are days when I felt I'm a failure.

Aside from that, a friend of mine recently got mad at me for talking about my concern for her to my mentor and my mentor mentioned it to her in passing which in turn boiled over into an argument.  I read her note while I was resting after work and cried over it.  My heart was heartbroken because I didn't even know she resented my questions.

I kept on praying to God to help me love my job as the days come along.  To help me love my tasks in serving others, in obeying my superiors, in showing compassion to my colleagues.  Although I enjoy being able to serve others, I fail when the pressure comes.  My temper explodes and the peace I thought I have is completely gone.  I cry out to the Lord to help me love the people I start to resent and just serve them from my heart.  Today was no different, the trial keeps on coming.  Even if it was a calm day, comments and criticisms makes me just want to throw my apron out and walk away from all of it and say, "I don't need to take this ****"

I don't want to be that person who I was before.  Endless swearing and hot tempered chef.  I need to keep my emotions in check and despite holding off my anger, I find my outlet of release was either to shout or to cry.  I'd rather cry than regret releasing anger and cause myself to sin.  And I really don't want to resent those people.  I don't want hatred to engulf my heart.  I have to love my enemies.

When my friend got upset with me, I wrote a letter to her explaining why I asked my mentor about her.  But while writing to her that letter, I kept on praying and hoping that I would be loving towards her rather be angry and have her turn away more from me.  But in the end that letter made her even more angry.  I want to be angry, to resent and rebuke her, but I would be no better.

God commands us to love our enemies.  When Jesus knew Judas was going to betray him, He still chose him to be his disciple.  When the soldier was arresting Jesus and Peter cut off his ear, Jesus healed him.  When people jeered and mocked Him, he still went up the cross and died for our sins.

We are enemies of God, for when we sin, we go against His holiness. We were alienated from Him from the moment sin became present in our life.  When Jonathan asked me, "What's the lesson behind Noah?"  I pondered about it for a moment and realize, it's not only about justice and destruction and showing off God's power.  No!  It's about His love for us.  He didn't have to save Noah when He destroyed creations.  God can actually start over anew and make new creations.  Noah's going to make it to heaven anyway because God deems him righteous.  God could've started another Garden of Eden and create a perfect man and woman sans the serpent.  He already knew that His chosen people are going not going to be faithful to Him.  He could've just said, "Ungrateful and wicked brats! I'm sorry I created man and let us make a new creation all together.  Wipe out earth and man, throw Lucifer into the fiery pits and destroy it forever."  But He didn't.  God still saved His enemy, Us, pitiful humans.  Mankind would cease to exist and He knew about each and everyone of us, our unrighteousness, our stubbornness, our pride, our rejection.  No matter how many times we reject Him, He still loved us enough to give us life.  He has given us hope.  What a merciful and loving God is He?

When Christ commanded us to love our enemies, He wanted us to love one another without any prejudice between whom we call our friends and enemies.  It's very easy to love those who love us back.  I'd rather be in their company and feel their love for me all the time.  Being in the company of my enemy is difficult.  But throughout the bible God has shown us how to love and with His love, the ultimate sacrifice, shouldn't we follow the same?  Love your enemies. We love, because He has loved us first.  And we cannot claim to love God if we have hatred in our hearts.  When I feel hatred I feel my heart constricting and squeezing out the blood in me.  I don't feel I have room in my heart for anything else if there's hatred in it.  How can there be love in me if I hate?

I cannot love my enemies.  I will always feel anger and resentment towards them.  I know it will happen often.  I cannot condemn them to being lost forever to the world.  But as I keep my eyes on the Lord, I can only lay it down at His feet so He can carry that burden for me.  Only God can love our enemies.  By myself it will always be a failure.  With God, only He can wash the peace through me and show love to my enemies, and not act out in anger. I pray that God will show me how to love others, how to continually love them even after they've become my enemies.  So that through me, they will see Christ and believe and not to be my enemies anymore but rather be saved and become my brothers and sisters, beloved children of God.