How easy is it for you to extend your hand to people who don’t care for you?
By: Taren Vaughan
“No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord.
Isaiah 54:17
Our enemies, those persons whose sole purpose in our lives is to cause us harm or stand in the way of what we are trying to accomplish, are all around us. We often mistake these people for friends because they appear to be so genuine when we first meet them. And because of their initial “good behavior”, we let these pretenders get a little too close to us. Sooner than later though, these people will reveal their true selves to us and the true way that they feel about us will come to light.
That’s when the underhandedness starts to happen. The talking bad about you to other people and they try to do everything in their power to mentality or physically stifle you. Yet and still, we are supposed to be kind to these folks? People who bring nothing but negativity into our lives?
According to God’s word, we are to treat everyone with kindness, even the undeserving in our eyes. Easier said than done though right? Showing love to those who show it to you in the same manner is something that we can all manage to do with great ease. When people are pleasant to you and are always treating you with respect, really how hard can it be to do the same in return? Not hard at all I’m pretty certain of that.
But for those who mistreat you and constantly try their hardest to ruin your good name with no reason at all for doing so, turning the other cheek and showing them love is difficult to do.
Moments like these, we should stop and think about what Jesus would do in a situation like this.
Jesus Christ had enemies just as we do down here on Earth. Big difference is though that he had more enemies than he could count on his hands and toes alone. He had those who called him crazy, a liar and caused him bodily harm up until his death. And as Jesus Christ endured the things that these individuals did to him, he still stood his ground and followed God’s word and believed in His promise to take care of him. And despite all of the things that his enemies put him though, he still found it in his heart to pray for them and their wrongdoings towards him. So when our enemies come at us, full force with a mission to defeat us or tear us down with all their might, take the time out to pray for them. Show them love regardless of how they treat you for you want to do right unto others even when it is not returned.
