Loving Your Enemies

Taken from Delve into Jesus



Love Our Enemies
By Michael Lane, Executive Director, Delve Christian Ministries 


If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:20 


"If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?" Matthew 5:46-47 


Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18 


There are many different types of love, each with many sides and aspects. One of the many flaws of the English language is that we have a single word to describe them all, so it's understandable that we may fail to distinguish between that which we feel for our husband or wife, and that which compels us to feed the poor. This linguistic limitation has the most impact when it tricks us into believing that love is a feeling, and worse, one over which we have no control. 


We don't usually choose whom we love romantically, and we may fall in and out of love at the whim of our emotions. Since this is the kind of love with which we are the most familiar (and perhaps the most comfortable), we struggle when we hear Jesus speak of "loving our enemies." A contradiction forms in our mind as we think, "How can I love them? I don't feel a shred of sympathetic emotion for them at all!" 


The love of which Jesus speaks is not a feeling in any sense of the word. It is a decision resulting in action. It is a choice you make that has nothing whatsoever to do with how you feel, and quite often, occurs in spite of a feeling to the contrary. This kind of love judges the needs of a person but never the person themselves, and responds according to the gravity of the need, never the character of the person. 


Understand that you must absolutely restrain whatever you feel for a person and treat them with as much compassion and kindness as you would show your own mother or child. This is the kind of love that Christ demands - not a feeling, but rather a spirit of service, selflessness and humility. It is the ability to give to others with no regard to what they can do to repay you, what they feel for you or what you feel for them. 


This kind of love is extremely hard. Unlike romantic love, which naturally drives us to do wonderful things for our spouse, loving our enemies goes against what our sinful nature desires us to do. It is far from effortless. Very often, when we stand at the brink of loving our enemies, our sinful nature cries out, "I don't want to do this!" and stands poised to halt our progress. We have to push through it. We have to resist the notion that something so difficult and so contrary to our natural desire could be called "love". It is, in fact the greatest kind of love. It is the kind of love that God demonstrated when He saved us while we were His enemies. (Romans 5:10) 


There are opportunities for each of us to put this kind of love into practice every day, but it takes extraordinary courage and faith to even recognize these opportunities, let alone act on them. Imagine a coworker that you simply cannot get along with who is on the verge of making a huge mistake that will get her fired. Our sinful nature revels in this, and tells us that it serves her right. Let her get fired! Yet, if we are to love as God loves, we cannot let this situation unfold. We must intervene and prevent her from making that mistake despite all objections from our emotions. This is not at all what we will "feel" like doing, and that is why it requires such courage and faith. And what reward will we get? Perhaps she will thank us, or perhaps she will tell us to mind our own business. Yet, our love does not expect her appreciation. Our motives are simple and pure - love her as God loves her. 


Remember that this kind of love is not about emotion, it is about action. Never stop looking for these opportunities to act in your life, and don't give in to the nagging voice which insists that love must always be easy and rewarding. Don't stop when you are on the brink of kindness because it doesn't feel right, for it often doesn't. This kind of love can be hard and uncomfortable, but it is the most important of all, for it is by this kind of love that others will know that Christ lives in you.

Ripples this week

Hello guys and girls

This week youth will be on Sunday. Topic would be "Being Nice" or "A Caring Heart ". So, i hope all of u have been showing care for others and have recieved kindness from others as well :)

I'll see all of u this Sunday the usual place and usual time :) and I hope it'll be more fun haha.

Have a great week people....Be Nice :)


- Andy

Photography 101 - Summary

dear Teens,

hope you all enjoyed the short photography session today and learned something to bring home with you.

there are many technicalities in photography which are impossible to cover in only a few hours, and i do not expect you to remember all of them, but here are few that you can always keep with you:

1. ISO: use higher ISO settings for dark or indoor shots to get higher shutter speed and lesser blur pictures

2. White balance: to get photos with natural colours, set it according to the environment where you take the pictures e.g. daylight/cloudy, tungsten, etc.

3. Rule of thirds: basically, stay away from the centre of the screen

so please share what you have learnt today with those who could not come, and i hope you are all on your way to taking "the perfect picture" :)

..Lee