Jesus told us to love our enemies. This is not easy. Enemies are probably the most hurtful and hateful people in our lives. They say bad things about us, do evil to us, and hurt us in sometimes profound ways. They may damage our reputations and rob our peace.
In our own strength we cannot love our enemies. Our flesh wants to lash out against them and give them a taste of their own medicine. But we can love our enemies through the power of the Holy Spirit. As we love our enemies, our lives will be blessed.
We were once enemies of God. We didn’t know God, we didn’t care about the Bible, and we did stupid things that God hated. We followed Satan, God’s arch enemy. Maybe we mocked God and his people. Even though we were once God’s enemies, God loved us anyway (Romans 5:10). God loved us so much when we were his enemies that he sent his Son to die for our sins. We can love our enemies because God loves us.
People can become our enemies for no apparent reason. They sometimes seem to hate us randomly. Their enmity seems to be irrational. The irrational nature of their enmity points to the evil spiritual power that is operating through them. Demons stir up hatred and strife. Our real enemies are not people but evil spirits. We are not fighting against people, but against spiritual powers of darkness, and we need God’s help to get the victory.
For God to help us regarding our enemies we need to obey his instructions. We must have agape love for our enemies. Agape love comes from God, for God is agape love. When Jesus tells us to love our enemies he’s not commanding us to have warm, fuzzy feelings toward our enemies while they smash us over the head. Instead, he is commanding us to obey God’s word toward our enemies.
“This is the [agape] love of God, that we keep his commands” (1 John 5:2-3).
When we obey God’s word towards others, we have agape love toward them. To love our enemies means to obey God towards them. Agape love is not about feelings, it’s about obeying God.
In order to obey God toward our enemies, we need to draw on the power of the Holy Spirit. Love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. We must love our enemies in faith. It may not make sense to our minds, but we trust God for a positive outcome as we obey his word.
God tells us what to do in his word – these instructions provide the form and structure of our agape love. We must forgive everyone. Our enemies hurt us deeply, and we must forgive them. We must release ourselves from grudges, bitterness, and hatred. We must treat others as we want to be treated. All this must be done without partiality (1 Timothy 5:21), even to our enemies.
When people curse us, we are to bless them. They may wish evil upon us, but we pray for them. They may say bad things about us, but we speak good things about them. They may do evil to us, but we do good to them. They may shout at us, but we don’t shout back. We entrust ourselves to God, whose word we are keeping, who will fight for us.
We will overcome evil with good (Romans 12:19-21). We are commanded to do good to our enemies. We give them what they need. We don’t take vengeance but leave room for God’s wrath to work in their lives. God is the righteous judge, and he knows how to judge between rightly between people. At the right time he will avenge us.
When our enemy falls into trouble, don’t jump for joy. If we get happy at that time then God will not be happy with us (Proverbs 24:17-18). God didn’t rejoice when we made a mess of our lives and faced the bad consequences of our wrong choices. Instead he kept loving us. We must do the same for our enemies.
As we do good to our enemies, we will pile up burning coals of fire on their heads. This is symbolic of the work of the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit can take many forms in people’s lives. Maybe the Holy Spirit will convict our enemies of sin. Maybe their hard hearts will melt under the heat of the Holy Spirit, and they will repent. Maybe God will release judgment into their lives – in this life or in the age to come.
It’s important to love our enemies for our own good. This will give us peace of mind. We may be physically healed as we let go of bitterness, rage, and grudges toward our enemies. When we forgive others, we will also be forgiven. When we obey God, we WILL be blessed.
There are limits to how we should interact with our enemies.
If our enemy is an unrepentant, sinful Christian, then we are not to have close fellowship with that person (1 Corinthians 5:11). If our enemy is a false teacher, then we are not to allow him into our home (2 John 1:10). If our enemy is an unbeliever, then a certain separation is required (2 Corinthians 6:17). These Scriptures apply to all people in these categories, even if they are not our enemies. But they do apply to our enemies too. And of course if someone is abusing us, then we need firm boundaries. God does not want us to be abused.
Within the parameters of God’s word, true love for the enemy is defined.
It is possible to love our enemies. This is one of the basic teachings of Jesus. Loving our enemies means obeying God’s word toward our enemies. God modeled love for his enemies when he loved us before we knew him. And he will empower us to love our enemies by the Holy Spirit, so our lives can be blessed.
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