CHAPTER 9
And Your Enemies Too

It is one thing to properly respect and love yourself, to love God wholly and to love your neighbor. It is yet another to love one another as Christ loved His disciples. And probably these commands are impossible without divine motivation and help.

But there is an impossible of the impossibles. Jesus said, "Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way you will be acting as true sons of your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:44-45, Living Bible).

In some parts of the world the impossible command may not seem so applicable, but in Ulster, for example, it means Catholics must love Protestants and Protestants must love Catholics.

In the Middle East it means Arabs must love Jews and Jews must love Arabs. In some parts of the United States it means whites must love blacks and blacks must love whites. In other countries it means Moslems must love Christians and Christians must love Moslems. That such a list could be endless is itself a sorrowful reflection upon humanity.

But some may question here. These people about whom you speak are not deeply committed Christian believers.

And that is true. But there are "Christian enemies," if you know what I mean - people in the rank and file and sometimes in the leadership of our evangelical churches who know only too well how to hate. And if the revolution of love will do anything, it will shatter these enmities and heal these hatreds.

Like that of the anguished wife and mother who confessed to practicing with a shotgun with a view to murder because her husband was unfaithful to her.

Like that of the new and sincere convert who in a moment of passion said of her believing sister, "I hate her."

Like that of Evangeline whose flashing black eyes narrowed to slits as she thought about the young people in the choir. "I hate them," she hissed.

Like that of the teen-age boy whose thoughts focused on his profligate father and the bitter words spilled out. "I hate him!"

Like that of the young man struggling in prayer who could not believe until the confession of his bondage exploded from his lips. "I hate my pastor!"

But enmity and hatred can be conquered.

Our Lord's death on the cross is the prime example. He had been mutilated, His back shredded with the Roman lash, His hands and feet torn by the ragged Roman spikes. He was dying in the hands of hatred. Still, His prayer was victorious and compassionate, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Fox's Book of Martyrs is filled with the accounts of those who, like the Saviour, died with forgiveness on their lips.

Perhaps the more difficult thing is to love and forgive those who taunt but never touch, those who hate but never hit.

Love your enemies. Pray for your persecutors. Such actions irrevocably pit themselves against the grain of human nature, the natural order.

And spiritual revolution upsets the established order. With so many doing the natural thing, Christ calls and commands us to do the supernatural. Then He gives us the strength to love and to do.

Chapter 10