Love Your Enemies
A topic that keeps coming up in conversation with friends is Christ’s command to love our enemies.
The analogy I’ve used with them is to think of someone you can’t stand.
A friend who betrayed your trust.
An ex who broke your heart.
As one friend said, someone who, if you found out had died, a part of you might actually be glad.
Yeah, that’s a little screwed up, but it works.
Then I was reading something Donald Miller posted at his blog and saw a perfect example – Osama bin Laden.
Think about it.
Who do Americans hate more than bin Laden?
Now, before anyone freaks out, remember, the Bible never says love and forgiveness = removal of punishment or consequences. Just look at King David as an example; he had sex with another man’s wife, got her pregnant and then had her husband killed in battle to cover everything up. And even though God used the prophet Nathan to confront David and forgave him of his sins, David still had to face the consequences of his actions (2 Samuel 12:11-23).
So I’m not saying that by loving and forgiving bin Laden we also let him off the hook.
I am saying if we are to live according to Matthew 5:44, we have to love even bin Laden.
It’s a tough pill to swallow, but to follow Jesus it is necessary.
