Enemy Love

Painting by Scott Erickson @scottthepainter

It’s a crazy, divisive, cruel world out there, folks. If we watch too much news, or click around on facebook too much, it can easily get depressing. So much vitriol, so much hate. We all know that there is more to the story, more good in the world than meets the eye, but oftentimes the news only shares the worst and we buy it. As believers, our reactions vary, but usually end up in worry, anxiety and a desire to do something (anything) to combat the "evil du jour". Or we just turn it off, plug our ears and block out the evil, pretending our little communities are the only reality. We ALL want to see God's kingdom come on earth, but oftentimes we don't know the steps to get there.

Here is a crazy thought, what if we defined ourselves by what we were FOR rather than by what we were AGAINST? What if we loved like Jesus rather than adding to the noise and to the division?

Because here is the reality, we will never overcome evil by simply criticizing it. Not that we shouldn't critique. It's just not going to do us much good unless we create something better. Or better yet, participate in what God has already begun, what He is already creating. At the end of the day, if we are following Jesus, accepting His grace in our lives, we must be the catalysts that move agape love and mercy from a concept that is simply believed and preached in our churches to an actualized way of life. It's not enough to critique hatred, we must actually love. Not just a metaphorical kind of love, a real love, that takes action and moves and does. 

Jesus' enemy love is the solution He gave us to heal hearts and a diseased culture. It's His wild, ridiculous plan A. It’s the responsibility of the Church (you and me) to boldly point culture towards that hope that is found in loving others when it seems absolutely ridiculous to do so.

"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." Matthew 5:44-45
 
Evil says that some people are just too far gone, beyond hope, beyond God's mercy. Love says His mercy is for every single one of us, the pedophile, the racist, the preacher and the politician. Mercy is real the moment we accept it in our own lives and is made tangible the moment we show it to others, especially those who are the least deserving of it. Church, the hour is late. Love of neighbor includes the sinner, the oppressed, and the "too far gone". We can’t combat the darkness by simply criticizing it. It’s gonna take some bright lights. Let your light shine. 

"For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others?
Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Matthew 5: 46-48 

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