Grace–Simple. Profound. - Grace and ForgivenessSample

Love Your Enemies

There was a couple in Texas a long time ago who had been married for forty years. The husband got really upset with his wife over the price that she paid for a pound of sugar. So angry that it caused a grudge over their marriage and it began to grow over the next two months. Until in a drastic move, the husband actually took a saw and cut their house in half. He moved his half to the edge of the property, boarded up the holes on each side so that his wife could live on her half of the house and he could live on his half. I don’t know if a pound of sugar is worth it, but there is a lot of un-grace in relationships. If we could create a word that stands for the opposite of what God is teaching through Scriptures and what He’s given us, it’s a lot of un-grace. It can become very poisonous and deadly and we don’t even know it. 

March 18th 1937, New London High School in Texas, had 600 staff and students that day. At 10 minutes away from dismissal of class, it was unknown, but underneath their new school building, an odorless, colorless, invisible natural gas was leaking into the building. They believe a shop teacher turned on an electric sander which caused a massive explosion to occur. Witnesses outside of the school say that the building’s walls bulged out and the entire ceiling lifted hundreds of feet in the air as a ball of fire. 295 teachers and students died in New London, Texas. One of the greatest tragedies in Texas history. 

You may think these two stories are kind of unrelated, but what’s similar is the type of atmosphere; an odorless, colorless, poisonous un-grace environment that is affecting our relationships. Everywhere we go, there are levels of un-grace. Every single person can attest to feeling bitterness, anger, or resentment towards someone. Is that the way God wants us to live? I don’t think that’s what God wants for us, but un-grace is true in most of our relationships. 

Jesus says, “Love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you.” This word enemy is pretty harsh. I don’t call many people my enemy. That word congers up feelings of war time. When Jesus says to love your enemies, He is asking: How can you put love into action in a war? I believe He is telling us that in difficult relationships, we can choose to love those who don't love us.