Love your enemies?

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 ( Matt 5:44)

Greetings. I purposely added a question mark at the end of my title message. Yes, the word of God commands us to love our enemies, but the flesh in us screams no. We all have found it hard to do at a certain point in our lives. Some people would say–You don’t know what they did to me. Others would say–I tried, but I can’t. These are strong arguments against loving your enemies, but let’s look at the following verse below—

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (John 15:5)

Guess what? You cannot forgive, and that is a true statement. The hurts might have been profound. Maybe, you suffered significant financial loss. Another reason can be that you lost a beloved family member who got killed in cold blood. I could go on with a series of reasons why you should hate your enemy, but believe it or not, the way to forgive is to admit that you cannot do it on your own.

I worked with a dear Saint who fled Cuba due to the repressive tyranny of Communism. She had lived in the United States for years, and life was good for her. One day while conversing during a break in my job with me, she said that she could not forgive Fidel Castro. She blamed him for having lost some of her family members. Memories like these are hard to forget, much less forgive.

Whether you believe it or not, God’s love has no limits. Think of the meanest person you have ever met, and you will see that God still loves them. (Ezekiel 33:11) We all know that Fidel Castro passed away many years ago. Yes, he ruled with an iron hand, but if he had repented during the last few minutes before drawing his last breath, he would have made heaven his home. Yes, this is hard to imagine, but God’s mercy has no limits.

The secret to forgiving others is to abide in the vine. Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. Remember his words–Without me, we can do nothing. Our abiding and identity with Christ are essential to being able to forget and forgive. God’s word says that we have the mind of Christ. Christ is not Jesus’ last name.

The word Christ is the Greek word for anointing. Isaiah 10:27 describes that anointing. It removes the burden (load) from your shoulders. We have burdens (The cares of life, stress, and anxieties). The anointing in the mind of Christ carries that power to give you peace amid the wild raging storms of life.

That anointing will also give you the power to destroy the yoke of the enemy, the world, and the flesh. There are two yokes in the Bible. One is made out of wood and the other Iron. Wood symbolizes the flesh and the world. Iron represents Demonic oppression.

An Iron yoke is meant to be destroyed, not broken. My main point for this reasoning is that Iron can be welded back. The anointing will rot that Iron, just like the effects of water rending it of no good use.

If you are a Christian, you can have the mind of Christ. It’s there for the taking. Use it for your battle of unforgiveness. Learn to abide in the vine. Then, you can do all things thru Christ, who strengthened you.

Prayer–Father, forgive me for being bitter against those who have wronged me. Heal those hurts and pains in my heart and mind. I take the mind of Christ. I will forgive by faith those who have wronged me. I have the mind of Christ. I will abide in the vine. Christ is in me, and I am in him. As of this moment in my life, I will walk in the love of Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.