| I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. ~Luke 6:27 |
It can be very easy to wish justice on those who have wronged us, even engage in vengeance when we are hurt, especially when it is those whom we love that have caused our hurt. It is also easy to be spiteful of others, to engage in pettiness and insults; we convince ourselves that we feel better afterwards, that we have “vented” our emotions appropriately and can now move on.
But what if we chose to forgive first? What if we started choosing forgiveness in every situation, so that eventually, it becomes a habit within our hearts to be forgiving? I encourage you to pause and truly take some time to picture this. Do you imagine more peace? More love? More compassion and joy in your heart? I do.
Imagine what we could accomplish, as individuals and as a group, if we all actively chose forgiveness over anger. Anger leads to resentment, envy, hatred, and vengeance. Even if you choose not to act on your anger; the thoughts are still there, and therefore your heart is still hardened. Forgiveness leads to letting go, lifting your burdens up and out of your soul, to peace. And that peace? You are no longer burdened, no longer focused on how you have been wronged. Your thoughts directly affect your emotions, and your emotions directly affect your actions. Because you have let go, you have refused to allow those thoughts to take over. You have chosen God over Satan and Satan does not have control over you. Wow.
In Alistair Begg’s Truth for Life, today’s daily devotional addresses agape love, which is unconditional, sacrificial love. He says that the greatest measure of our faith is love that reflects the love we have received. You see, God’s love is not based on our actions or our demonstration of how good we are. God’s love is shown in that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
| But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ~Romans 5:8 |
Jesus instructs us to see others as they are, to be realistic about the sins they carry, and choose to still love them anyway. There is a verse you may be familiar with, which comes from 1 Corinthians 13:13, “So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
I want to share a story with you. It comes from Acts 9. There was a disciple called Ananias, and the Lord called upon Ananias to do something very important. “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying” (Acts 9:11). Now, if you are not familiar with Saul, he was not what many would call a good man. Saul was said to be committing evil during that time (Acts 9:13) because he was a leader of persecution, killing those who were preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was very well known for this, and considered his actions to be righteous, claiming to act in the name of God. Ananias reacted in a way most of us would; he asked why God would want him to see someone who was actively killing those spreading the gospel. Ananias was also preaching the gospel, so he would be putting himself in danger. But the Lord said, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and children of Israel” (Acts 9:15). What did Ananias do? He chose to obey God, and went to Saul. Acts says that Ananias laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:17).
A little backstory: Saul had been traveling to Damascus when he encountered Jesus. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:5). Saul was made blind for three days before Ananias came to him.
When Ananias spoke those words to him and laid his hands on him, Saul regained his sight. “Then he rose and was baptized” (Acts 9:18). Acts also says, “For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God’” (Acts 9:19-20).
Ananias had a choice to make, and he chose to love his enemy. He obeyed God’s instruction and went to someone who could have had him killed. Because of his faith, because he chose to reflect the love that he was receiving from God, Ananias showed love to Saul. Saul was not only healed, but forgiven for his sins and saved.
Do you know what became of Saul? His name was changed…he became Paul, one of the greatest apostles of all time. He went on to not only preach the gospel and lead non-believers to Christ, but he wrote many of the New Testament books. Paul suffered a great deal in his life, more than we can fathom, but he never lost his faith. Because Ananias chose to love his enemy, he was part of Saul’s transformation to Paul, a beloved apostle who spoke wisdom into the hearts of sinners.
I will end with this. Alistair Begg says this beautifully: “But consider the kind of difference we would make to our culture if we were prepared to live out, in both everyday and extraordinary ways, a Christlike love which seeks to do what’s best for those who have acted in enmity towards us. That would be revolutionary – without any question at all” (2021).
| And so, I pray that we will choose to love our enemies. That we will choose forgiveness above hatred and be part of a revolutionary transformation: the transformation of our hearts. Thank you God for showing us your love, so that we may learn how to love others. |