Love your Enemies

At Monday's youth group meeting we talked about enemies. We looked at Jesus's words in Matthew 5:

44But I tell you: Love your enemies[i] 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.

As we broke into small groups, Michael made an off-hand comment that the leaders could participate in the exercise we were doing. As a small group, we looked at naming our enemies, went through how we typically treat them, and then looked at how followers of Jesus treat our enemies. I had a tough time coming up with an enemy to put down on the piece of paper. Apparently, I'm a pretty good guy... Or not.

Over the past few days, I've been dealing with someone at work that I would probably now have to label as an enemy, and this whole topic has been stuck in my head. I've been forced to think through the list that I went through with the kids about how I typically treat enemies, and then look at what what I'm called to do. This sucks. But I'm glad it's going on. Funny how this stuff works and how the Holy Sprit works in my life to continue uncover parts of me that aren't congruent who I claim to be as a disciple of Jesus. I'm having to humble myself (no small task), really look at my behavior and go back to this person and apologize and make things right. Fun.