I am trying to understand the section in the Sermon on the Mount that talks about loving your enemies. I think it starts with the verse that says "resist not evil". That seems puzzling. Does it mean that we go along with evil? I'm sure that's not it. It's more like "don't assume a battle stance". It has more to do with the person than the evil itself. I'm not saying this very well because my thoughts are still fuzzy. But when we look at the instructions, a pattern emerges. He tells us to turn the other cheek; let him have our cloak; go the second mile; give to him that asks. Then there's this impossible instruction: love your aenemies, bless them that curse you, do bgood to them that hate you, and cpray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you;
Can anyone actually do these things? This was surely one of the most shocking and surprising of the Savior's teachings. The Telestial man doesn't love his enemies. He may feel fully justified in seeking revenge. The Terrestrial man may try to forgive his enemies and just avoid them. But Jesus wasn't asking us to only be better than the natural man. He was teaching us a higher law. He wants us to love our enemies. To pray for them. To do good to them. To be Celestial.
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A great example of this is written by Corrie Ten Boom in The Hiding Place.
ReplyDeleteI've heard many stories in the church about this, and they tend to sound idealistic and take more faith to apply than I tend to carry in my "toolbox". But when Jim and I divorced, he won custody of Eric, based on the fact that at the time I was living in a small apartment, working full-time and Jim was living in the country with his solid, awesome family, so the judge based his reasoning on the fact that if I had custody, Eric would have had to go to a day care all day every day, whereas Jim's family had Jim's mom & dad, plus 11 sibs still at home...large house, country setting, etc. The judgement was also based on Jim's statement that if the SLPD gave him any grief at not living w/in the city limits - a requirement of employment - that he would quit the department. Soon after the divorce and custody decree, Jim moved back into SLC, leaving Eric in the care of his family in Clearfield. It nearly destroyed me. He had manipulated the system, and was living in direct opposition to what he had told the judge. THEN he got married, and was again in SLC, and I got some weekend visitation. The thing was, I was so full of hurt and rage and indignation that I used to drive back and forth to work every day with my mind teeming with ideas of how to get Eric back from Jim, or actually how to get Jim out of the picture entirely. (It was not pretty!) I was a MOTHER, but I had no child! What do you do with that?
ReplyDeleteWhenever I tried to pray, all that happened is I would kneel there and sob, my soul grinding on resentment of Jim and his wife. It went on this way for months and months. I FELT the definition of "damned", for I could NOT move forward. I was totally stuck in that grief and resentment.
Finally, through counseling with my Bishop, and guidance from the Spirit, I began praying FOR Jim and Joan - that they would be terrific and loving parents, that they would be happy and make a happy home, etc. I threw my whole soul into praying FOR them. For the first time in over a year, I began to feel again, and began to recover some degree of peace. By praying FOR my enemies. If we don't, the awful feelings will eat us alive, and damn us where we stand.