Love Your Enemies

Good Morning! It's Tim and I coming to you from the living room again.

There's a commercial that's starts off with a sentence I laugh at every time. It's a grey haired lady walking through the big city, who says, "Lately, I can't stop thinking about my bones."

Well, as for me, "Lately, I can't stop thinking about my enemies." If there is one thing I did NOT expect as a director of a Mission, is that I would have enemies. I'm a nice person!!

Gradually it dawns on me what the Psalmist is anguishing over nearly 100 times as he pleads with God to shame his enemies, or to save, deliver and defend him from his enemies. Or this last one: to preserve him from fear of his enemy.

So, what do we do with this? The co-worker who suddenly stops talking to you. The disgruntled employee who spreads his cynicism then walks off the job. The friend who cut you off because you said something that offended her. The family member who makes your life miserable.

Let's face it people, we have enemies! How do we handle this??

If it be possible, as much as lie in you, live peaceably with all men. That's a direct quote from Romans 12:18. It means different things in different situations. It means you have to try, but not to the point where you are obsessed. It's about bringing people closer to God... and not worrying what they may think about you.

And, as I was telling my friend Lisa today, it's "love" that is to constrain us to draw people to Christ. Not revenge. Not reputation.

"Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way in which I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me. Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness."

-Psalm 143:8-10