A Hard Task Could Tip the Balance

This morning I got to share a moment with the kids in our church congregation. It was a good experience, but I think I’m more nervous about speaking to children than I am adults.

Children will take quite a bit at face value. Adults will call you on your b.s. I don’t want to screw up some kid’s faith walk. By and large, we adults are already screwed up at some level, so it’s more a brief diversion in an adult’s journey.

I believe what you are about to read flies in the face of human nature, or our natural response to conflict and antagonism. Doing it may be one of the hardest challenges we face in our life. I also think it transcends faith. See if you agree.

The core text for the message today was Matthew 5:44. It goes like this:

"But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,"

And here it is in context:

"You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

If I was a guessing man ... oh. Hey, look. I am! I guess that most faiths have a version of Matthew 5:44. If you’re reading this and you’re not Christian, drop me a line at david dot l dot Colbert at gmail dot com. That’s an “L” in the middle bit. Tell me what your holy texts say on the matter.

While the kids and I were meeting, we decided that persecute means to hurt. People could hurt you by not being nice. Maybe even very mean. They might even hurt you physically. So, pray for the people who hurt you.

 

Who are those enemies?

What is an enemy? Kids are pretty smart. They can also be pretty harsh. This morning, they told me an enemy is somebody you don’t like.

Ouch. Think of these reasons we may not like somebody:

• They look different than we look. Isn’t this silly? I don’t know of anybody who looks just like me. That makes for a lot of potential targets to dislike. I don’t think I have the energy for that.
• They act differently than we act. Unless we were raised in the same way, people probably will act differently than we do. Sometimes, they’re family members who shared our environment and still are very different from us.
• They don't believe what we believe. Our faiths, our politics, and the basis of our moral codes are just a few examples of divergent beliefs. Social media is a poor place for lessons on living life. The newsfeeds and tweets I receive are chock full of messages created in anonymity and put before the world with little critical thought. We should talk more. Once we get beyond labels, we really have more in common than we realize or expect.
• They treat us badly. This reason makes the most sense to me, but it doesn’t give us a pass.

 

Tough choices

You know what? Not liking somebody is a choice.

So is loving somebody. In the verses quoted above, Jesus wants us to choose to love people. And also to pray for them.

Not about them. FOR them.

 

For, not About

Note that we are not encouraged to pray “about” people who persecute you. That could end with us trying to convince God to apply our sense of justice. That’s not our gig.

Instead, we should pray “for” them. Apply the Golden Rule here (Refresher: Treat people the way you want to be treated). If you were praying for yourself, what would you pray for? I expect it would be good things. Very good things. Pray for very good things for your enemies.

If you’re little freaked out by the word enemies, pray for good things for people you’re mad at. For people who voted for the person you didn’t like. For the person who yelled at your child. For the person who ignored you or cut you off in traffic. These aren’t hardcore enemies, but they may not be high on your “love” list right now.

I told you this would be hard. If you have a regular prayer life, it may have just gotten longer. But there is an immediate benefit. As Pastor Bruce pointed out today, it’s really hard to hate somebody and pray for them at the same time. Imagine each of us tipping the hate/love balance toward love.

And a brief detour. My dad shared a sign he’d seen recently. It said something to the effect that “The hardest neighbor to love may be our own wounded self.” Good stuff in there.

That’s a little longer than I went this morning with the kids, but that’s the message. Choose to love. Start in the mirror if you need to. And pray for very good things for one another, especially the ones you’d least like to.

God bless.