About “Love Your Enemies” 6-14-16

The right response to Jesus’ teaching, “Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you,” is “You’ve got to be kidding!  Are you living in the real world, Jesus? Click.”

It’s the right response because it reveals where we actually live.  It’s a biblical ink blot test!  Perhaps then we can hear this teaching from the Sermon on the Mount as Christ’s call to repentance and ask, “How do we get there from here?”  This is our question as disciples.  And it ain’t easy to deal with.

Seems to me that adult spirituality is about awareness to discover where we are & willingness to take a step toward, not ‘perfection’ (Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father…) but whole, which I believe is a better translation of the Greek teleios.  Or, how would we respond to our enemies if we weren’t afraid?  So, here’s a way to pray to become willing:

1. Thank you God for this temptation to hate my enemy:  I jump off the hamster wheel in my head that constantly massages my ego and move into relationship with God.
2. Because I get to come before you as your creature:  I’m not the judge.  I’m the creature.  Here, I get to get off the judge’s bench & be right-sized.
3. Please help me:  Since I cannot control my reactions, my fearful aggressiveness, I ask for help.
4. And I pray for… (fill in the blanks) who are my enemies:  May they find in you the same wholeness I seek.