PRAYING FOR YOUR ENEMIES
“I love the Bible. I really do. I love reading it, studying it, teaching it, and preaching it. But wouldn't life seem a lot easier if a few verses just sort of disappeared from the Bible? Not better, but easier. For example, that verse about turning the other cheek when someone hits you. I know it's the right thing to do, but come on, do I have to? Then there's the teaching about being slow to speak and quick to listen. I'm a preacher!
“But perhaps the most difficult teaching from the Bible is slipped into the middle of the Sermon on the Mount: ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’ (Matt. 5:44). Unfortunately, we can't delete or ignore verses in the Bible that we don't like or that seem impossible to obey. Jesus was preaching to His followers, people who came from great distances to hear Him teach about the way they should live as Christians. He knew that anyone who associated with Him would be persecuted, perhaps even killed, so this teaching takes on even greater meaning. Later, He demonstrated this very teaching by asking His Heavenly Father to forgive those who nailed Him to the cross. Jesus knew the powerful witness that comes from demonstrating love to those who are opposed to us. One of the reasons the early church prospered was the way that believers responded to their enemies, and we are asked to do the same thing.”
~André K. Dugger, Prayer: Your Own Letter to God
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