My list of enemies

I've been making a list of my enemies. I'm tracking those who hurt me. I'm tallying those who left wounds. I'm noting those who bother me. I'm "making a list, checking it twice . . . ."
No really, I am.
I wonder if we have a wrong strategy for dealing with enemies. I'm not talking about national enemies, like countries, or enemies of state, like tyrants. I'm talking about personal enemies. Like the person who wounded you with their cutting words last week. Like the boss at work who tells lies behind your back. Like the girl at school who spreads painful rumors about you. Or even the guy who cut you off on the freeway last night. Who are your enemies?
"But those aren't enemies," you say, "They're just people who annoy me, or hurt me a little. I'd never be so unchristian as to call them enemies." And therein lies the rub. Because if they're annoyances, we can just ignore them. If they hurt us 'a little', we can just be angry 'a little.' If they do something a little hurtful, we can just gossip about them. But if they're enemies, we have to love them. And that is something altogether different.
Jesus gives two heart-tests for His followers that are especially potent to me. One is our willingness to give time to 'unimportant, unpowerful' people. (See Luke 18:15-17, or Matthew 25:34-40) We know we are beginning to share God's heart when we willingly give our time and energy to those who will not benefit us in any way. The second test that grabs me is the 'love your enemies' test. I've been memorizing that passage, and—honestly—I don't like it. But here it is:
"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." (Luke 6:27-28)
Later, He says:
"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." (Luke 6:32-35)
Did you catch that? One way to know that we are children of the Most High is if we love and share and give and do good to our enemies. Because that's what Jesus did—and does—for His enemies. For us. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
So why am I keeping track of my enemies? Because I want to be done with merely tolerating those who hurt me. Because I want to be done with petty wars with those I dislike. Because I want to be done with bitterness in my heart. Because, according to Jesus, I either hate stuff or I love it. And I either hate people or I love them. I've got to admit who my enemies are so that I can love my enemies. I've got to admit who my enemies are so that I can actively strategize about how to do good to them. I'm learning—with baby steps—to go out of my way to serve those who have hurt me. I'm learning—again, baby steps—to bless those who curse me. I have a long way to go, but I'm 'making a list, checking it twice . . .' No, I'm not fixated on it—that would be unhealthy. But I'm trying to get honest with myself, so, as Abraham Lincoln said, I can "destroy my enemies when I make them my friends."
This isn't natural for my heart. I don't want to love my enemies. But my heart is no longer natural. Yours isn't either, if Christ has changed it. It takes a supernatural heart to love enemies. It takes the heart of God to love enemies. I want my heart to become like God's heart. Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, will you help me to identify and love my enemies—like you do?
(By the way, if you receive a kind word from me, or a card in the mail, or a gift, it doesn't necessarily mean you're my enemy . . . I try to do that for friends, too . . .) :-)

One-Trick-Pony

His tone was charged with accusation, but his lips curled with a flickering smirk. He had stood in a long line of parents, waiting to question me—the 22-year-old who was interviewing to pastor his kids. I had already fielded an hour-and-a-half of group questions, and now had worked my way through the parental line. Six weeks after marrying my high school sweetheart, and just 4 months after college graduation, I was trying to land my first full-time career job. "You just said the same thing all night" he continued. "You're just a one-trick-pony. Every question they asked you gave the same answer. It was just all about love, love, love. Do you really think that love is all there is to life? Don't you have any other ideas?"

It's a fair question. Maybe it was just the naiveté of a 22-year-old fresh out of college. Maybe as I got older, and wiser, I'd realize that love isn't trustworthy. I'd realize that Hollywood has corrupted love. I'd figure out that real Christianity is about good doctrine, or discipline, or obedience, or . . . something more measurable than 'love'. I'd discover that love isn't trustworthy because sometimes you just have to obey God even when you don't want to, and that it's ok to not like someone but still say that you love them. Maybe when I got out of the idealism of college and into the reality of 'grown-up life' I'd realize that love is just a superficial thing that mature Christians have moved beyond.

The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Galatians 5:14)

Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40)

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35)

. . . for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8)

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19)

God is love. (1 John 4:8,16)

We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19)

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)

The rant continued, and I thought, He might be joking, but if he isn't—and I treat him like he is—I'm in trouble. Better take him seriously. I was starting to get nervous. But, he was right. I am a one-trick-pony. I really do think that everything—everything—ties back to love. That even judgment and wrath and truth and justice are all expressions of the love of God—of the God who is love. I really do think that God lives in perfect relationship as Father, Son, and Spirit. And I believe that perfect relationship is why He is love. Not just loving. Not just a lover. He is love. And, I really do think that everything comes back to love. I mean, isn't that what Jesus says? "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." So yes. I am a one-trick-pony. I do tie everything back to love. And so does Jesus. That puts me in good company . . .

I started to explain myself yet again when the flickering smirk won out over the accusatory tone. Turns out he was joking—and that he agreed. Love is the answer—always. He even titled a book after it—One Trick Pony (by Phillip E. Long). You should pick it up—it's a good read.

But the real question is—what's your 'one-trick-pony?' What driving force in your life motivates what you do? Has the love of God won your heart? He is love.