Peace Through Fogiving Your Enemies

Peace in Forgiving your Enemies Matthew 38-48

38"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.39But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. 43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44But I tell you: Love your enemies^[c] and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons 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. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This is part of the 'Sermon on the Mount'. As Lee Stroble says it, Jesus is making one outrageous statement after another. I don't know about you, but I have heard some very self-righteous people cite “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” and declare that this is the concept that God wants us all to follow. Now Jesus is going to turn that thinking upside-down.

Read 39-42

Now the first part of this statement makes me stagger a bit, but the rest of these but the rest of these statements simply blow me away.

The only person I ever have let anyone hit me was my cousin Lynn Wasnich. We both loved to box and we both had a set of boxing gloves. The only trouble was that when he came to my house or I went to his house we each would forget to bring the other set of gloves. So, we would go to the basement of the house where our parents couldn't see us and we would trade head hits. We would never swing for the nose of the other person so we never broke our noses of caused severe bleeding.

I have had some people get mad at me and take a swing at my cheek. However, I simply ducked and avoided the contact. Had they met the mark they were aiming for I would have had to dig deep inside for the kind of fortitude it would have taken to turn the other cheek. I am not sure at all that I could have gathered myself, turned my head and said, “okay, now this side.”

The fact is, in my humanness, I find this instruction very difficult to obey. Yet, in the Spirit of God I have found myself being used and wounded by some people who I reach out in love to, over and over again. Yeah! That is turning the other cheek too!

Read 43 Here it comes!

Read 44-45 Here comes the reason...

Read 46-48

So, here is the whole thing in a few words:

God wants us to forgive our enemies, but it is not enough to just say that we forgive them.

God wants us to love our enemies, and it involves more than simply shaking hands, hugging, or kissing and making up like Mom and Dad used to make us kids do when we had a misunderstanding or one or both were just plain selfish.

It involves care and concern that moves us to think of our enemies in a different way than we ever did before. If we really love our enemies we will pray for their eternal welfare. If we really love our enemies we will strive to reach out to them in friendship and love.

An enemy that receives Jesus Christ as their Savior will not only treat us differently. They will be different. The will be our brothers and sisters in Christ.

You could have peace by forgiving your enemies.