![]() ![]() ![]() He ran home, gathered his few possessions, and began the long trek that ultimately brought him to California. They grabbed the leaders, took them outside, and shot them. One evening, while they were holding a prayer meeting, government police stormed the meeting hall. They refused, sensing that God had called them to share Christ with their neighbors. Fearing that Bible-believing followers of Jesus would become politically uncooperative, local government officials ordered Ricardo and his friends to cease their evangelistic efforts. But that’s not how the government saw their activity. He and his friends worked hard to share the good news of Jesus with their friends and families. When he was a teenager in a Central American country, Ricardo was part of a leadership team of a Christian movement. “Yes,” he admitted, “a very hard time.” Then he told a gripping story. Finally I asked, “Ricardo, do you have a hard time loving your enemies?” But Ricardo kept insisting that it was hard to love, even with God’s help. I gave an example of loving someone who had been rude to me in a store. I agreed, but once again implied that such love could come easily with God’s help. When I suggested that God always helps us to love those who hurt us, a man named Ricardo interjected, “Yes, but sometimes it’s very hard to love your enemies.” One afternoon, I was examining Jesus’s command to love our enemies. ![]() My group was about as diverse as any I ever led: ethnically, religiously, and experientially. I was leading a Bible study at a community college in Los Angeles. I was reminded of how hard it is to love real enemies early in my pastoral ministry. This is true even if we don’t have actual life-or-death enemies, opponents who oppress us, abuse us, and would even kill us if they had the chance. Loving our enemies must be one of the hardest things Jesus asks us to do. But I have a simple question: How? How in the world can we actually love our enemies? Jesus said we’re to love our enemies, to do good to them, to bless them, to pray for them. Today’s devotion is part of the series Following Jesus Today. Lord, help me to do the impossible, by your grace and strength. Yet Jesus calls us to this kind of impossibility. Loving true enemies seems, well, impossible. It can be hard enough to love people who bug us, who do or say things we dislike, whose politics or lifestyle offends us. ![]()
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