“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Luke 6:27-28
How should we deal with someone who has wronged us and hurt us deeply, but isn’t repenting and isn’t asking for forgiveness? What about the person who doesn’t even recognize he has done anything wrong…or maybe does and is glad he is doing it? Jesus answers that question when He speaks of loving our enemies and forgiving them. Jesus taught that love doesn’t just forgive when another person asks for it. Love offers forgiveness with no strings attached. Love also bears with another and endures all things. And according to 1 Peter 4:8, love covers over a multitude of sins.
If we are honest, I think one of the main obstacles to loving and forgiving in this way is that if we do this – if we really do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who mistreat us – then very few people, if anyone, will know that we have been hurt. And for most of us, that is a challenge.
Doing good, praying for, and blessing our enemies means that we are not walking around depressed. We aren’t withdrawn and grouchy or worked up and annoyed. We are not drawing attention to our hurt. Instead, we are behaving in a hope-filled, joyful, and gracious way. Therefore, no one will even know that we have been rejected, insulted, betrayed, or wounded. And everything in our selfish, sin-filled souls will hate that. By nature, we want people to know when we’ve been wronged. We want sympathy. And you better believe if we are being nice to our enemy, we want everyone to know about it.
Here is the gut-check question: Is it enough that God knows you have been wounded? Is it enough to let Christ attend to your hurt? He is, however, our faithful High Priest who has suffered in every way that we have. How often are our hearts more centered on people rather than on Christ?
1 Peter 2:19 says, “This is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrow while suffering unjustly.” When we obey Jesus and do good to those who wrong us, handing them entirely over to the Lord, we glorify and please God. Our greatest need is not that our hurt is recognized or vindicated, but rather that God means more to us than anyone else. When we obey His Word and offer grace and forgiveness – especially where it is not requested or deserved – we show God that He matters most.
Dear Jesus, I admit that it is not easy to obey Your Word to love my enemies. Please forgive me for the times that what others think means more to me than You. Change my heart and continue to draw me closer to You until nothing and no one matters more to me than obeying and honoring You. In Your Name I pray, Amen.
Topics: Forgiveness
