Loving Our EnemiesSample

Have you ever heard of having a “frenemy”? Loving our enemies most often not about people far off who are strangers to us. (Though we must be aware that we can harbor hatred in our hearts for whole people groups in the world.) Our more common experience with hatred is much closer to home and it can be quite subtle. This involves us getting into what Dr. Jim Wilder calls “enemy mode”. It’s a state in our brain in which we turn off our relational mode and we become predatory. This is usually about our attitudes, actions and speech directed toward a person who is close enough to us to cause distress...even a loved one. Our “enemy” can therefore be anyone who is presently being unkind, upsetting, irritating, bothersome or annoying to us. This up-close battle is where the virtue of spontaneously loving our enemies must begin to be practiced. Notice how a “cold” form of hate is described in this passage in James.

Is there a person God has put in your life whom you love, but who also expresses attitudes, actions and outward ways that really bother you? Ask God to show you ways to rise above your reactions to their faults to show them kindness and emotional connection.