Love Your Enemies

Justice and Revenge, Jan Valentin Saether. Mixed Media.

Love Our Enemies from the album Up on the Mountain by Rick Lee James.

Poetry:

“Love my enemies, enemy my love”
by Rebecca Seiferle

Oh, we fear our enemy’s mind, the shape
in his thought that resembles the cripple
in our own, for it’s not just his fear
we fear, but his love and his paradise.

We fear he will deprive us of our peace
of mind, and, fearing this, are thus deprived,
so we must go to war, to be free of this
terror, this unremitting fear, that he might

he might, he might. Oh it’s hard to say
what he might do or feel or think.
Except all that we cannot bear of
feeling or thinking—so his might

must be met with might of armor
and of intent—informed by all the hunker
down within the bunker of ourselves.
How does he love? and eat? and drink?

He must be all strategy or some sick lie.
How can reason unlock such a door,
for we bar it too with friends and lovers,
in waking hours, on ordinary days?

Finding the other so senseless and unknown,
we go to war to feel free of the fear
of our own minds, and so come
to ruin in our hearts of ordinary days.

LOVE YOUR ENEMIES

Will you join me in a thought experiment?

Think about your average day and the stressful situations you encounter. What do you face in the morning? A hectic household getting out the door? Driving to work, did someone cut you off, did public transportation run on time, or was everyone on the commute polite? Did you deal with angry clients, difficult co-workers, or demanding bosses? Is your doctor, pharmacy, and insurance company making life a breeze? At the end of the day, are neighbors troublesome, have your kids left the house a mess, or do you fight with your spouse?

When you experience any of the above or similar, how doyourespond in each type of situation? Afterward, what thoughts and feelings are you harboring towards those you perceive as having wronged you? If you feel convicted of doing wrong, do you make amends?

Loving like Jesus is hard. Really hard. I have numerous opportunities to turn the cheek every single day, and I cannot reasonably estimate the number of times I miss the mark.

A key lesson in leadership training is that if you as a manager have a problem with an employee, the problem is often first within yourself. Consider what unexpressed expectations you hold. Why is it that a person irritates you? What personal values of yours are they violating? Why do you assume that person is intentionally trying to offend you?

It is no great feat to love those who love us. When someone is being nice to you, is it difficult to reciprocate? No. But if someone wrongs us? Our first response is often to feel entitled to our offense. We are in the right. We are smarter and more principled than the other. Meanwhile, the other person is thinking the same thing about you.

This is, in part, why Christ is revolutionary. What He expects of us is counter to what our sinful impulses are in a fallen world.

We are called to love our enemies. Not tolerate them. Not prove them wrong. Not appease them to their face then badmouth them behind their back. Love them. What do you do for the ones you love? Celebrate their successes? Forgive and guide them after mistakes? Provide them attention, resources, and care? Whatever it is, when was the last time you applied a similar action for someone who wronged you? What might happen if you engaged them in an act of love? Yikes. I do not naturally like doing so. But when you push past this aversion, you pour “burning coals” on your enemy’s head, freeing you both.

Prayer:

Father, we are so entitled to our sense of righteousness. Help us to see past our own needs and become self-aware. Hold our feet to the fire, Father. Reveal to us our blind spots. Help us see when we are in the wrong and make the most of opportunities to shower our enemies with love. Help us to be a unique people, bringing others to you because our love defies logic, culture, and the ways of this world. In your holy name, we pray,
Amen.

Zachary Bortot, M.F.A.
Associate Professor of Theatre
Theatre Arts Division Director
Collinsworth School of Performing Arts
California Baptist University
Riverside, California

For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, please visit our website via the link in our bio.