Christian Living
HOW TO DESTROY YOUR ENEMY!
"'To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love you enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, gift-wrap your best coat and make a present of it. If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.'" Luke 6:27-30 (The Message).
"What are you saying, Jesus? You can't be serious!"
Oh, but He was. If you want to know what power is, this is real power. There is no true power in retaliation. It only takes a bit of physical or emotional energy to hit back when someone hurts or offends you. But what kind of power does it take to absorb the blows and respond with kindness and generosity? It takes power over one's own self not to give back blow for blow.
But it takes far more than sheer will-power to stop oneself from hitting back. That is a perfectly natural reaction coming from a human point of view, but Jesus was talking about an attitude that is far more than what comes out of our fallen human nature. He was talking about a changed disposition that comes from a completely different perspective.
What will it take to change us from reacting to responding? Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 that, to "see" and enter the kingdom of God will take the equivalent of going back to the beginning of our life and starting over again with a new nature. That is impossible in the natural, as Nicodemus discovered, but God can do it through His power at work in our spirits.
Paul speaks of this supernatural event as "being raised from the dead" -- a spiritual resurrection that is like waking up to a new realm where we understand everything from God's point of view.
God is not a tit-for-tat God. He treats us according to who He is, not according to the way we speak or behave. That's the way His rule operates. Human parents would understand this. If your son misbehaves, he is still you son, no matter what. A good parent will address the behaviour, not bully or disown the child because he has behaved badly.
When we were born from above, God gave us the potential and the power to respond to situations out of who we are in Christ, not out of who we were in Adam. And He gives us opportunities to show the ones who offend us what He is like by absorbing the wrongdoing and not adding to it by retaliating.
But it's even more than that. Jesus said that it’s not about non-retaliation. It's about actively responding with generosity. That's how God treats us. The best way to "destroy" your enemy is not to beat him up or kill him but to make him your friend. He will cease to exist as an enemy and come alongside you instead of standing against you.
What kind of perspective can change our attitude towards the ones we perceive as enemies? There are two things that have helped me see things from God's point of view. Firstly, God wants us to treat everyone with dignity because we have all been created in His image. To dish out cruelty to another human being is to treat God with the same attitude. Who would want to do that?
Secondly, people's words and behaviour reveal who they are, not who I am. I don't have to mirror who they are by retaliating. I want to mirror who God is by offering kindness and generosity for unkindness and meanness. Absorbing the blows will stop them right there and offer your enemy the opportunity to change his mind as well.
Have you tried it? You can, with God's grace.
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