new church life: november/december 2015
must first receive good in ourselves, which begins with removing the obstacles
to it in our own character. Among the good we can do then is to set a good
example for others.
Repentance, therefore, is not a gloomy, negative alternative to helping
others, but the key to becoming able to love others as the Lord has loved us.
This is why He calls upon us to “bear fruits worthy of repentance.” (Matthew
3:8)
(WEO)
love your enemies
We should love everyone, even those who do not love us or agree with us. “If
you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?” (Matthew
5:47) This gem of Christian truth is well known and loved. The Lord said it,
and it touches a chord deep within us. We sense that it expresses a profound
and revolutionary truth of human life. But as a practical matter, what does it
mean and how can we do it?
“Love your enemies” means that we should love them as fellow human
beings who were created by the same God who created us, and for the same
purpose: eternal life in heaven. We were all created in the image and likeness
of God, and even if that image is distorted, there is some good in everyone. It
is that good which we are to love, even in people who are promoting ideas and
ways of acting which we perceive to be harmful to the innocence we wish to
see preserved in children, in ourselves, in society generally, and in our enemies
themselves in whatever degree they are willing to receive it.
We are to love our enemies as flawed human beings like ourselves, who are
making their way through the same difficult obstacle course we’re all on as we
strive for happiness. In fact, one reason for loving them is that an attitude of
enmity, anger and hatred toward them would be an obstacle for us on our own
path of spiritual progress. The evil of hatred, like all evil, redounds upon those
who disseminate it, and thus has its own punishment built into it.
Loving our enemies, however, does not mean loving the evils they may
have adopted. On the contrary, we will want to help them resist the evil that
seeks to destroy the good in everyone, including them. To encourage or
confirm evil in others is to provide aid to their spiritual enemies, the influences
from hell which are seeking to harm them. If we love them, we will want to
help them escape from their spiritual enemies.
(WEO)
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