Special Message for Monday - Love Our Enemies

Years and years ago, I attended a rally with a very inspirational Christian speaker. She and her Dutch Christian family hid and helped Jews escape the Nazis during World War II. After reading her book, The Hiding Place, I realized that Corrie Ten Boom had every right to hate the Nazis. After all, take a look at what they had done to the Jews and so many others including her own family.

I began to think about the times, that I like her, hated my enemy. As humans, it is so very easy to hate. However, we, as Christians, are called upon by Christ Jesus to love our enemy. In Romans 12:20, Paul tells us that instead of hating our enemies, we are to show them kindness. If they are hungry, we are to feed them. If they are thirsty, we are to give them drink. Feed and give drink to our enemy? This completely unnatural and almost impossible to do. In fact, it is completely contrary to the way we learned how the world works. 

But, that is the point, we are not part of this world. In 2 Corinthians 6:17, we are to come out from among the unbelievers. By doing so, we set ourselves apart. We follow the teachings of Jesus and obey the word of the Father. When we do what Christ Jesus taught us to do, we show the world that we have truly overcome it and its hatred. 

There is one quote from Corrie, in particular, that sums up how we initially feel about our enemies and how, through grace, we are able to overcome the hatred and learn to love our enemies.

“Even as the angry vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him....Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness....And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on his. When he tells us to love our enemies, he gives along with the command, the love itself.” Corrie Ten Boom, author of The Hiding Place