a better way if we condemn her and her views? Love can and will heal them as well as ourselves.
Soon after Donald Trump won the election, I was praying to the Lord expressing my concerns that his win would embolden certain people, and their agendas. The Lord spoke very clearly to me that day and said, “Aretha, can you love a KKK member?” Can I confess something to you without you judging me? I said, “No, Lord, I can’t. How can I love someone who’d rather see me dead?”
He said, “Aretha, I need you to show the love of Christ to everyone, including a KKK member. It’s going to require the love of Christ to soften his heart.” I was humbled at those words. You see, I’d never thought about loving the KKK. I looked at them as an organization who hated black people (or any people who didn’t look like them) but really, they’re misguided individuals who need to know the love of Christ.
So, when I ask you if you have love for a pro-choicer or someone who’s had an abortion or for a lesbian, I’m not excluding myself from the conversation. I have my work cut out for me too as the Lord has tasked me with loving people I’d rather not love.
As we enter into the month known for Valentine’s Day, I challenge each of us to show love. Let me make the challenge harder. I challenge each of us to obey Matthew 5:44, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”
Love your enemies. That’s what Christ did and, since we want to show the world that we are His disciples, we need to have love for those in the world. Through that love, our enemies can find hope and salvation.
Let me leave you with this final verse:
“Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee,” (1 Timothy 4:16).
Aretha Grant is a bible teacher, wife, mother, and grandmother.
She lives in Western Maryland where she serves as the adult bible
teacher within a local church.