Who are your enemies, do you know them by name, are they real, or imagined. We have of course one very serious enemy, and his hate for you is never abated, Satan has no love for the children of God, and he will do everything that he is allowed by God to do to us, but “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” (1st John 4:4) With this promise and the armor of God we can stand against this enemy, but what of those who are in the world, the human beings that the wrath of God abides on, (John 3:36) those that believe not the Son, those that hate you.
In what is termed by some the “non-third world” countries, these enemies are largely unseen, as it were, there are of course rebukes, mocking’s and some aggressions, but compared to those of our brothers and sisters in Christ in other parts of the world, we have difficulty in recognizing our enemy at times. I have not heard of any towns or cities in the United States, Great Britain, France, or other similar countries that have been overrun by the adversaries of the children of God, those full of hate for them that have killed them and burned their towns, though I could have missed this occurrence. This almost daily event is happening to those that are part of the fellowship in many places around the earth, these individuals know full well who their enemy is, and we are not to forget them. “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.” (Heb. 13:3)
Who are your enemies, can you even tell anymore? We all know how we are to treat them, “But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,” (Luke 6:27) but how do you know who they are, or do you just go about your daily life trying to love everybody? Can you truly tell those who are your friends from those who are not, and what is it about them that differentiates them from one another. Harmful, deadly, hostile, individuals, are these people in your life today, for these are but a few of the words that mean enemy, could you point out these individuals to your friends and say, “That is my enemy.”
We do not necessarily go about trying to make enemies, at least not most of us, people are usually cordial, if not caring, polite, if not giving, but an enemy is someone who, to put it bluntly, hates you and wants nothing good for you. They will make every effort to disrupt your life, to thwart your plans, to stop any happiness or joy from entering into your life, if they knew they could get away with it, they would end your life today. Now tell me, who are your enemies. Far too many who profess Christ today think that we are to be walking around in a state of adoring love to all that we meet, that we are not be discerning with that love, but we are, in a sense, just to roll over and take it when the Name of God is besmirched or we ourselves are threatened by those who hate our Savior. We will stand before the wiles of the devil, but not against the human being who stands in Satan place.
“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Matt. 22:39) All are our neighbor, every single person on this planet is our neighbor, who then is this enemy that we are to love along with our neighbor, how are we to recognize him. “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) Our Lord made it very clear and simple for us, our enemy is the one that is cursing us, calling us names, ridiculing us every time we speak of the Love of Christ, he is the one that hates you, vehemently, and will do all in his power to make your life miserable. They are the ones who are spiteful towards us, mean and cruel, they want nothing good for you, and if it is in their power, they will hold you down in any way they can.
The last word, persecution, is a word that I have difficulty finding in my community, and I mean this in no offensive way, but when I think of the word persecution, I see in my minds eye severe beatings, torture, imprisonment, and all manner of anger and hatred played out by those who hate the Name of the Lord upon those who speak His Name to them in love. Your enemies my friends, are those who hate the name of Jesus Christ, and because they cannot take it out on Him, they will inflict all manner of punishment upon you. These people that you are to love hate you, they hate God, they despise Jesus Christ, and for all of that the wrath of God abides upon them. (John 3:36) And why are we to love them, why did our Lord command us to love those who have so much hate in their lives towards Him and us?
“That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2nd Thess. 2:12) Because we know their end if they do not repent, because we know that they are going to burn in the lake of fire for all of eternity, separated from the love, mercy and grace of God forever. If we were to not show them the grace and mercy that is available to them, we could in no way love them, for it is more than our desire to not only be obedient to the commandment, but to know that their end may be one of eternal torment drives us to forsake the possible consequences to ourselves and to tell them the truth. While we are rejoicing in the presence of our Lord forever more, they will be burning, in complete and total hopelessness for all eternity. That alone should help us to stand when it is time to stand, to love when it is time to love.
Your enemy is every single person who has not professed that Jesus Christ is Lord, whether they are living in open rebellion against Him, or sitting in the church pew next to you praising Him only with their lips, (Isa. 29:13) all those who are the friend of the world, (James 4:4) all those in whom there is no fear of God before their eyes, (Rom. 3:18) these are your enemies. Doesn’t really leave you with a lot of friends, does it, because my friends, that describes the majority of the people on this planet today.
“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isa. 55:7) There is hope my friends, there is always hope, many times those that hate us have been driven to their knees at the foot of the cross by the actions of love from the children of God. There is one more thing that you must understand, the love that we are to show them does not come from us, it is from the Holy Spirit within every believer, but it will not be forced out of us, it must be freely given, and this can be one of the most difficult things that we will ever be called to do.
I could leave you with many examples, and I am sure that you could relate some also, some of them may even be from personal experiences, but this love that we are to give those who hate us always starts in the same place for the believer, in suffering. Those who hate us cause us to suffer, but we need to remember that we can in no way suffer as our Lord did at the hands of those that hated Him, nothing that we will ever suffer can ever be compared to what He bore for us. If our Lord could love, and die, not only for those whom He knew would accept Him, but also for those He knew would not, we can love all that hate us.
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1st Peter 2:24)