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October 18 – Love Your Enemies

Scripture: Jeremiah 31:27-32:44, 1 Timothy 3:1-16, Psalm 88:1-18, Proverbs 25:20-22

If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat.
    If they are thirsty, give them water to drink. (Proverbs 25:21)

Observation: There’s a story of a soldier during Vietnam. He and his battalion had just gone into a small village that was suspected of harboring Viet Cong. They tore the place up. With weeing women, old men and small children looking on, they ransacked that place as thoroughly as possible but found nothing. Finally they moved on.

Just up the trail a bit the battalion was ambushed. The soldier was hit and blacked out. He remembered waking up briefly, still on that trail, to see an old woman leaning over him.This was a woman he remembered seeing in that village and before blacking out again, he thought he was going to die. The next thing he knew, he was back in that village, the wound in his side had been cleaned and bandaged and a different villager offered him a cup of tea. A short time later the sound of an approaching helicopter was heard and all those from the village melted away to the woods. Army medics picked him up and this soldier, who should have died but for the kindness of his enemies, was carried away.

Application: A guy that I had been witnessing to once told me, “One thing I like about you, BJ, is that you never get mad.” As I started to get proud of myself he continued: “Nope, you don’t get mad. You just smile and then get even.” I opened my mouth to argue the point, and then shut it again. It was true. God help me, but it is true. Loving my enemies is such a nice thing to talk about or think about, but its such a hard thing to actually do.

Prayer: Dear God, I fall so short in this. You have provided such a beautiful example for me, but I have so much trouble following it. Please help me. Help me to love others just as You loved me when was still an enemy of the cross. Help me to forgive them, not just with my intellect because I know I have to, but also with my heart. With the core of my being. Thank You for lovng me. Help me to love others.