Reading With the People of God #11 BlessedSample

Focus of the month: (The Beatitudes)

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

- Matthew 5:3-12

That’s Not What Jesus Meant to Love Your Enemies!

That’s a weird title for a devotional. Jesus, in our readings in Matthew 5:43-48, told us to love our enemies. But King Solomon got the “love of enemies” idea wrong. Let me explain because it will help us not go astray as Solomon did.

Jesus’ principle of “love your enemies” is that we are to be the influencers, not the influencers. We love our enemies with God’s power to help them understand that we serve Jesus, who actually loves them sacrificially. He wants to reach our enemies through us, through His love in us toward our enemies. Though we may be treated badly by our enemies, we have the position of influence to show them the love of Christ, by loving them with His love.

What happened with Solomon? It says in 1 Kings 11, “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women…” and goes on to list all the countries from where all these foreign women come. Basically, they all hail from countries that are enemies of Israel. That’s not what Jesus meant! The result of this kind of loving of “enemies” was the downfall of Solomon. His faith and country were decimated by him following foreign gods. He was influenced by the “enemy” within and was corrupted in faith to idolatry.

There is a principle in Jesus' words and a warning in Solomon’s life. We are to love our enemies not be influenced by them. So whoever you reach out to, enemy or friend, make sure you are influencing them towards Jesus versus them influencing you away from Jesus. Read of the tragedy of this in 1 King 11 and the victory of this in Matthew 5.

* Devotional primer contributed by Doug Drainville, Pastor of Care, Cornerstone Church of Chowchilla.