How do you love your enemy? ...

Tuesday, Nov 4, 2014. How do you manage to love your enemy? You know that Jesus told his deciples: love your enemy! Do not only love those who do good to you, but also love those who don't.

My difficulties with this …

I must admit, that I have my difficulties with loving my enemy. I have difficulties with loving those, who behave strangly and do things which are bad or nonproductive. And in particular when people act against you (and others), it is not something easy to achieve to love your enemy!

Sometimes I think, that it is easy to love your enemy, when you have none. When you are not responsible for anything, when you are just on your own (a student, for example, who can stay away from others when he wants). But what when you are suddenly fighting for proper ressources, in a difficult environment? Suddenly you might have if not enemies at least others taking part in the competition. And not all play fair and balanced all the time.

Is this love a feeling? I consider love to be feelings as well. But not only! It is also action, it is decision, it is words. Love talks about our whole person, about our personality and all we do, feel, say - all we are! When Jesus tells us to love our enemy, we are asked to do it on all levels of our life.

Start with the Lord …

Perhaps it is the wrong way to start with your enemy, when you want to love him (or her). As long as you are focussed on the things which do not work, it is very difficult to love your enemy. When you stare on the things which bother you, it needs a lot of power to do things which are not in unity with your feelings and your will and your experiences. Then, love is difficult to develop!

But it is better to start somewere else. Start with the Lord, with God, with Jesus, with the Holy Spirit. They are good. They are trustworthy. They are full of support, full of love, full of appreciation. They have created you in a wonder ful way! Yes, you are wonderful, just great!

God forgives you all your sins. He forgives you all, what you have done, all what you did not manage to do right. He even forgives you all what you have done by purpose, when you come to him and tell him: I did wrong, forgive me! He wants you to repent, yes. But to forgive, he only needs you to ask for forgiveness and to regret what you did.

When you start with the Lord, you might take from his way to deal with bad things. He has an unbelievable power to turn everything into something good. He has an enormous power to transform events, and even actions of people. He will be able to make something good of the bad things which people do to you. He is the Lord.

And then, starting with him, you have a chance to see people with his eyes. To develop the love which he has. To be changed, just by his company, by his spirit, by his wonderful character, by his personality. God be with you, in all what you do - in particular when you start to love your enemy! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts