Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy; 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; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
- Matthew 5:43-48
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But the question must be put to each man by himself, "Is my neighbour indeed my enemy, or am I my neighbour's enemy, and so take him to be mine?--awful thought! Or, if he be mine, am not I his? Am I not refusing to acknowledge the child of the kingdom within his bosom, so killing the child of the kingdom within my own?" Let us claim for ourselves no more indulgence than we give to him. Such honesty will end in severity at home and clemency abroad. For we are accountable for the ill in ourselves, and have to kill it; for the good in our neighbour, and have to cherish it. He only, in the name and power of God, can kill the bad in him; we can cherish the good in him by being good to it across all the evil fog that comes between our love and his good.
Nor ought it to be forgotten that this fog is often the result of misapprehension and mistake, giving rise to all kinds of indignations, resentments, and regrets. Scarce anything about us is just as it seems, but at the core there is truth enough to dispel all falsehood and reveal life as unspeakably divine. O brother, sister, across this weary fog, dim-lighted by the faint torches of our truth-seeking, I call to the divine in thee, which is mine, not to rebuke thee, not to rouse thee, not to say "Why hatest thou me?" but to say "I love thee; in God's name I love thee." And I will wait until the true self looks out of thine eyes, and knows the true self in me.
But in the working of the Divine Love upon the race, my enemy is doomed to cease to be my enemy, and to become my friend. One flash of truth towards me would destroy my enmity at once; one hearty confession of wrong, and our enmity passes away; from each comes forth the brother who was inside the enemy all the time. For this The Truth is at work. In the faith of this, let us love the enemy now, accepting God's work in reversion, as it were; let us believe as seeing His yet invisible triumph, clasping and holding fast our brother, in defiance of the changeful wiles of the wicked enchantment which would persuade our eyes and hearts that he is not our brother, but some horrible thing, hateful and hating.
- George MacDonald
5 comments:
This is the most profound thing I have ever read, considering all. I will copy and paste this in a word document to reflect on later, just in case this site ever becomes inactive. The man that came up with this, and the man, like you, that takes this concept in stride, without reacting selfishly like everyone in our world usually does, is the kind of man that I would like to improve to be more like. Thanks for posting. The concepts that come from God's word are always answers that can not be rebuked. I wish more people were level-headed enough to find them when they need them most.
~Jarrod
It struck me the same, and moreso tore into me like shrapnel. It exposed my evil and wretchedness when measured against the Truth. I am so caught up in the fog between me and my brothers, between me and my sisters, that I have fallen into the simplest of traps. Rather than turning to Him in my pain and thus increasing the fuel of my "torch of truth seeking", I doused it in anger, and so added to the murk and mist between me and my 'enemy'. I succeeded in further distorting the image of Him revealed through me to my neighbors. The Man of all men, when facing persecution and the despising of his fellow men, prayed to the Father, by the will of the Father, that they be forgiven. He saw the truth of things: that they knew not what they did. I am blind, even at my best - which I have been far from in recent days. It was a shameful reminder of how desperately I need Him to change me into the man I can only dream He intends me to be. I hope to become one of those people that are "level-headed enough to find them when [I] need them most." It is clear to me that I am not yet that man.
Agreed. There is also a balance, to some degree, of making sure the "enemy" is kept in check, and not given free reign within the borders of the other land to do irrepairable damage and cause problems. All fortresses, good or evil, have healthy defense systems to deflect and turn oncoming fire (as well as send return fire). There is a way to do both I think and remain true to what Christ is. Christ is a lion and a lamb. He "backed down" and prayed that they be forgiven because he was sent to bear the sins specifically for those people, and save the world. We, fortunately, aren't called to that duty, therefore we shouldn't necessarily take on what Christ did.
I am not trying to make a point specifically, just presenting something that I thought of.
An interesting conversation between the two of you. Here's my simple comment... I am disappointed in the actions taken this week. You took someone you promised to protect, and threw them away. I trusted YOU. Not saying she was right, because she wasn't, but saying you made a promise and you broke that promise. The world has a way of making us react, when we should pray. To take action, when we should stand steadfast. There is evil within all of us, and we all do foolish things for foolish reasons. Perhaps mine was the first foolish thing, wish that I could correct it, but I cannot. I can only go from here, and continue the journey with her. JD
It would seem, after all, that your trust was misplaced. She has broken the rules and my trust multiple times now. She is acting as she wishes because no one can tell her what to do, she will do what she wants, when she wants, and she knows that - she has shown it time and again. There's nothing I can try to teach her or show her that she doesn't already know, except for being responsible for herself and her actions. Some day she'll get that opportunity, and I think when it finally comes, it will be the best thing for her.
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