Love Your Enemy — Seriously, God?
Turns out, it works like magic!
“Hey, how about dropping by my place after school? I’ll treat your fav ‘mie ayam’ (Indonesian noodles) and more,” said the person who used to bully me and ask for money.
“Sounds awesome!” I replied happily, eagerly anticipating the sweet sound of the school bell ringing at 1 P.M.
I’m glad that we became friends.
Back in third grade elementary school, two girls used to bully me secretly. Every day, during break time, they’d wait for the class to empty, eyeing me like lions stalking their prey.
One by one, my classmates started leaving the classroom. The boys would dash to the sports field with their soccer and basketballs — enjoying 30 minutes of stress-free playtime. Some girls, myself included, would cheer them on or just enjoy lunch in the cafeteria.
Yep, everything seemed normal until that one day when I was dragged back to class. Two girls cornered me against the wall, forcing me to give them money. Being a clumsy kid, I did what they wished, but it annoyed me to give them everything I had every day!
Later, at Sunday School, the teacher spoke about loving our enemies and forgiving those who wrong us. Feeling confused and not fully accepting those statements, I ran to find my dad and shared the whole story, including the ‘loving an enemy’ thing. To my surprise, his response was calm: “Just pray for them.”
I couldn’t help but wonder, wasn’t he angry that I was being bullied?
Despite my confusion, I followed my dad’s advice and started praying for them.
And you know what?
The bullying didn’t last long. Surprisingly, one of those two girls became my closest friend three years later! We often hung out together, and I even visited her home. She would always buy my favorite food. Oh, how lucky I am!
I don’t exactly recall how it happened, and honestly, I don’t really care. I’m just grateful that in the end, we became friends. She turned out to be some of my best pals.
A Lesson in Love and Forgiveness
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (Matthew 5:44, NIV)
You know, when I was a little girl, it was so easy to include the names of people who disliked me in prayers. But as I grew older, things changed. Nowadays, mentioning people’s names who hurt me started to bother me, and sometimes, just hearing about them would get on my nerves.
Well, being a Christian trying my best to follow Jesus, it’s not that simple.
You see, when others tell you to hate or even harm your enemy, Jesus has a different message:
Love them!
In the book of Matthew, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says something quite radical. Instead of the old ‘hate your enemy’ mindset, which was a twisted version of ‘love your neighbor’ from Leviticus 19:18 (back then, people believed we should only love those we know well, not strangers or people from diverse backgrounds, and definitely not our adversaries), Jesus tells us to love all the people.
Here, Jesus understood that in life, we’re bound to encounter all sorts of people. So, He reminds us that everyone, including our enemies, is our neighbor.
We’re called to respond to them with love, trusting that God will handle our situations and transform our enemies into friends. (Sounds a bit like my story, doesn’t it?)
Loving your enemies and praying for those who mistreat you is no walk in the park. But believe me, it’s worth a shot. Once you make a habit of loving others, life just feels more peaceful.
Hey, You Are Amazing!
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