Them: We hate you.
Me: They hate me.
How do we respond to those who hate us? How do we respond emotionally? Isn’t it in our natures to respond in kind? We are hated so we hate or TRY to hate in turn? We don’t like to be hated, especially if we know there is no Godly reason for us to be hated. Satan can incite hate and uses all the people he can to keep the hatred flowing, especially against those who are God’s. There doesn’t have to be a single good reason, or a single reason of any kind for us to be hated. And even if we are hated for a manufactured reason our instinctive response is to return the hatred, to find a reason to give in kind. To disparage the hating party is what we might be very inclined to do. We want to feel better for being hated somehow. Yet we are told to do no such thing, we are told to LOVE our enemies.
To do good to those who hate us.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you
Love … we know what it means to love someone. We don’t want them to be harmed right? It scares us when those we love are hurt in any way. If another harms them we want to defend them, if they are hurt accidentally we are hurting along with them wishing their pain would go away. We don’t intentionally want to harm those we love. We might harm those we love due to our own self seeking ways. The saying ‘we hurt the ones we love’ is all too true because Satan LOVES when we hurt those we love. Satan would pervert our love any way he possibly can. We figure if we can hurt those we love in word- emotionally, mentally, spiritually then we aren’t very loving at all and Satan will use that to bring us to despair of our ever loving our enemies let alone our loved ones. We need to love our enemies even when we can scarcely love our loved ones. Our love has become so warped, so damaged by sin that we have to cling to the promises of our Savior and choose HIM to be our righteousness, choose HIM to be love in us, to let the Holy Spirit love as we cannot love.
Yes, we truly do need to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us, even when...especially when it is the furthest thing on our mind. We need to act upon what we KNOW, not on how we feel. We must lean on FAITH, not on tangible things before us. We have to go against the nature of our flesh time and time again to seek God. We have to CHOOSE over and over and over again, never get it in our heads that we chose once and that once is enough.
Please, Father, please help us! Please Father, please give us all we need to be YOURS and do YOUR will, not ours. Let the HOLY SPIRIT live in us, being all things for us that we can never ever be.
Please forgive us, Father, please! Help us to forgive those who hurt us. Help us! Save us! In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior! Forever and ever, amen!
Me: They hate me.
How do we respond to those who hate us? How do we respond emotionally? Isn’t it in our natures to respond in kind? We are hated so we hate or TRY to hate in turn? We don’t like to be hated, especially if we know there is no Godly reason for us to be hated. Satan can incite hate and uses all the people he can to keep the hatred flowing, especially against those who are God’s. There doesn’t have to be a single good reason, or a single reason of any kind for us to be hated. And even if we are hated for a manufactured reason our instinctive response is to return the hatred, to find a reason to give in kind. To disparage the hating party is what we might be very inclined to do. We want to feel better for being hated somehow. Yet we are told to do no such thing, we are told to LOVE our enemies.
To do good to those who hate us.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you
Love … we know what it means to love someone. We don’t want them to be harmed right? It scares us when those we love are hurt in any way. If another harms them we want to defend them, if they are hurt accidentally we are hurting along with them wishing their pain would go away. We don’t intentionally want to harm those we love. We might harm those we love due to our own self seeking ways. The saying ‘we hurt the ones we love’ is all too true because Satan LOVES when we hurt those we love. Satan would pervert our love any way he possibly can. We figure if we can hurt those we love in word- emotionally, mentally, spiritually then we aren’t very loving at all and Satan will use that to bring us to despair of our ever loving our enemies let alone our loved ones. We need to love our enemies even when we can scarcely love our loved ones. Our love has become so warped, so damaged by sin that we have to cling to the promises of our Savior and choose HIM to be our righteousness, choose HIM to be love in us, to let the Holy Spirit love as we cannot love.
Yes, we truly do need to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us, even when...especially when it is the furthest thing on our mind. We need to act upon what we KNOW, not on how we feel. We must lean on FAITH, not on tangible things before us. We have to go against the nature of our flesh time and time again to seek God. We have to CHOOSE over and over and over again, never get it in our heads that we chose once and that once is enough.
Please, Father, please help us! Please Father, please give us all we need to be YOURS and do YOUR will, not ours. Let the HOLY SPIRIT live in us, being all things for us that we can never ever be.
Please forgive us, Father, please! Help us to forgive those who hurt us. Help us! Save us! In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior! Forever and ever, amen!
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