Loving Our Enemies (02/27/2024)

Jesus tells us we must love our enemies. And for the longest time, I felt quite smug about my performance on this command, not because I was loving my enemies, but because I was quite convinced that I didn’t have any enemies. I was sure I loved everyone. And then I caught myself avoiding a particular offering at church not because of prior commitment but because of someone there. And while I wished that person no harm, I had to admit I wasn’t really praying for their well-being, either. And “poof” – there went my smugness.

At times, I have found, that the easiest person to fool is myself. I like what I’m doing. I rationalize that I am doing well. And then I get that “thump” I’ve mentioned before in the blog, the one from the Holy Spirit that calls me to attention and to deeper introspection. Inevitably, I find myself realizing that I’m not a “done muffin” – I’m still becoming – I’m still on the journey to my LORD and to the me I was created to be.

Last evening, as a group of 8 women gathered for dinner followed by study in matters of faith, we were discussing the book Rediscover Jesus by Matthew Kelly, specifically loving one’s enemies. He writes, “Who are your enemies?...Who are the people on television who make your skin crawl and your blood boil? Who represents ideas that are at the other end of the ideological spectrum from everything that you hold to be good, true, noble, and just?”[1] We spent a bit of time on that question last evening, and I believe all of us in the room began to think of those we avoided, those who riled us, those who offend us frequently. It was quite humbling, actually.

Kelly had something else to say in that chapter that stressed that there can be no peace without forgiveness. My favorite line might well be: “Choosing not to forgive someone is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” That line truly made me think. Who really pays the price for lack of forgiveness? It is not the other; no, it is the one unable to forgive who carries the weight of that injury and in time it will become hatred. As Kelly notes, “When we choose not to forgive, we turn our backs on God and the-best-version-of-ourselves.”[2]

Last evening, after everyone else went home, I went out to my porch for a little reflection and prayer. I thanked the LORD for the thump. I thanked the LORD for the companionship of these women who walk with me and help me stay the course and keep my mind and heart on my destination, my LORD. And then I begged the LORD for forgiveness and prayed for those whom I was not loving as I should.

How about you? Are there individuals in your life you may need to bring to prayer and sit with the LORD with them on your mind?

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.

Thoughts? Questions? Requests? – email katewiskus@gmail.com

[1] Matthew Kelly, Rediscover Jesus (Blue Sparrow: North Palm Beach, FL; 2019), 61.

[2] Ibid; 60.