Half a Mind

Half a Mind

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“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children 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. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?” Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭43‬-‭47‬, ‭NIV‬‬.

Hearing God with half of our minds is a dangerous pursuit. It looks something like this—

Pastor says, “Love your enemies.”

You hear—Love people who are against the United States. You think, I can pray for them: ‘Help them see that they are wrong and help them to come to you.’ Checked that box. I’m good.’

The person next to you hears— enemy—the gal at work who gossips about me. Yea, I hear you, I just pretend I don’t. I smile as if we’re good, friends even, but we aren’t. At least I’m not actively hurting her. Self-control is a form of love. I’m good.

Two rows over a man hears—ex-wife. Yup, definitely an enemy. Love her? Already tried that…. I’ll never be good while she breathes.

We hear what we either want to hear, are misled to hear, or we just simply skip over that part and hear ‘Blau, Blau, Blau,” like Charlie Brown heard.

Loving God with all of our hearts, mind and soul, (Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:37) means, all. It means we listen with our whole brain. Not only hear what we want to hear so we can justify our thoughts, opinions and misguided beliefs. It takes effort. It takes seeing scripture through the eyes of Jesus, and not our 21st century cultural eyes. It takes a desire to hear fully.

But when we hear the whole truth, we end up loving our enemies in earnest. We end up loving ourselves (aren’t we at times our worst enemies?), and our co-workers with a true desire to see them know Jesus. We even end up loving our ex’s. We can love the impossible because He first loved us, and it’s what He has asked, no, told us to do.

Will we love our enemies today? Will we pray for those who persecuted us? Are we able to do that for Jesus?

Father,

You loved Your enemies. You actually forgave Your enemies and invited them to follow You. You even died for Your enemies, and they didn’t even know it.

You did all that for us. You gave us an example to emulate and then asked us to leave a godly legacy to our children in the same manner.

Help us to love like You have done and are still doing all the time. Help us not to insist on our own ways, but to fully surrender to You and Your way.

Bless those who have persecuted me. And let them know You are the One blessing them—it’s not of their own merit or their own strength. Bless them for Your glory. Bless them, protect them and love them well.

Because of Jesus,

Amen.