Martin Luther King, Jr., said that Jesus’ command to “love your enemies” is “an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization.” But how do we love our enemies?
King gives us three ways.
Look Honestly at Ourselves
We need to truly see ourselves. Not just the good, but also the bad and the ugly.
It is a very real possibility that people may not like us but for no good reason. Sometimes they don’t like the way we look or the way we talk, or they don’t like our successes or failures, or they don’t like our friends or our interests. When that happens, have grace. Let it be.
But there is also the very real possibility that people may not like us for a real reason, something we’ve done or do.
“That is why I say, begin with yourself,” said King. “There might be something within you that arouses the tragic hate response in the other individual.”
Jesus said we can’t address the speck in our brother’s eye (or our enemy’s eye), if we have not first addressed the plank in our own eye. So the first way to love our enemies is to look honestly at ourselves, accurately adjudicating ourselves and correcting shortcomings that make it harder for us to see others accurately and, therefore, love them well.
Look Graciously at Others
We need to humbly and generously see others. Not just the bad, but also the good and the divine.
We need to discover and admit what is good in our enemy.
King put it like this:
“Within the best of us, there is some evil, and within the worst of us, there is some good. When we come to see this, we take a different attitude toward individuals. The person who hates you most has some good in him; even the nation that hates you most has some good in it; even the race that hates you most has some good in it. And when you come to the point that you look in the face of every man and see deep down within him what religion calls ‘the image of God,’ you begin to love him in spite of. No matter what he does, you see God’s image there. There is an element of goodness that he can never slough off. Discover the element of good in your enemy. And as you seek to hate him, find the center of goodness and place your attention there and you will take a new attitude.”
Refuse to Defeat Your Enemy
Once we have fairly looked ourselves and graciously looked at those who seem on the other side of the fence, we must make the decision–or return to the decision once again–to not desire their demise.
We do not seek to defeat individuals, but only systems.
Paul, a follower of Jesus who constantly confronted and was crushed by those who opposed him, told the church in Ephesus:
“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
Love everyone. Love, even the highly prize “truth spoken in love,” does not will the destruction of another.
We love those who oppose us, and annoy us, and want to destroy us, because God loves them.
“You refuse to do anything that will defeat an individual, because you have agape in your soul,” said King. “And here you come to the point that you love the individual who does the evil deed, while hating the deed that the person does.”
So, to love our enemies, we must see ourselves honestly so we can see others graciously, desiring their good rather than their destruction.
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