Week 36 Matthew 5
The practical issue of how-do-I-deal with my enemies isn’t simple. In fact it’s a complicated idea muddied-up by real life. It seems unworkable and nonsensical. So I wonder about it.
I tend to operate with a Friend-Enemy continuum in mind. There are Enemies on the left side and Friends on the right.
I have a set of Friend-Actions that apply to Friends and a different set of actions – Enemy-Actions – for my Enemies.
But Matthew makes it sound like the continuum isn’t viable.
I can’t use my Enemy-Actions against Enemies.
Two of the specific Non-Enemy-Action protocols the Lord spells out are that a) I have to love my enemy and b) I have to pray for him.
There’s a couple of tricky questions I’m left with:
Does loving my Enemy mean my Enemy is my Friend now? (I doubt it)
Isn’t treating my Enemy in a Non-Enemy way a bit of a charade? (Maybe. So I wonder if it’s a necessary charade)
Will my love-for-my-enemy-actions be different than my love-for-my-friend-actions? (No doubt).
What it looks like is that Enemy-Love and Friend-Love are two different loves. One is more intentional & deliberate. A kind of necessary-action love. The other is easier & more spontaneous. Love that’s not weighted with requirement.
For now I’m thinking that Enemy-Love looks more like a) doing beneficial things and b) not doing oppositional things. It’s mostly doing what’s the right thing to do – there’s not likely very much feeling involved.
Note: see Matthew 5:44