LOVING YOUR ENEMY

As a radical follower of Jesus one of the hardest commands comes from Matthew 5:43-46:
 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 sons 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 your have been called to be a "Radical For Jesus" leader you will at some time have to deal with conflict.  How you and I manage that conflict will determine how good a leader we will be.  Jesus, the perfect example, handled conflict in several different ways.  (1) Confronted the issue head on, (2) Ignored the accusation and walked away,  (3) Sometimes chose to wash the feet of those who attacked Him.  


Dr. Martin Luther King, father of the United States civil rights movement modeled conflict management in the following way: 

"On Christmas Day, 1957, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a sermon at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. It was based on this passage and the sermon title was, 'Loving Your Enemy.' Through the course of his sermon, Dr. King suggested three ways by which we can do just that.

First, we must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. Such forgiveness doesn't mean that we ignore the wrong committed against us. Rather it means that we will no longer allow the wrong to be a barrier to the relationship. Forgiveness, according to King, 'is a catalyst creating the atmosphere necessary for a fresh start and a new beginning.'
Second, we must recognize that the wrong we've suffered doesn't entirely represent the other person's identity. We need to acknowledge that our opponent, like each one of us, possesses both bad and good qualities. We must choose to find the good and focus on it.
Third, we must not seek to defeat or humiliate our opponent, but to win his or her friendship and understanding. Such an attitude flows not from ourselves, but from God as his unconditional love works through us.
As followers of Christ who seek to lead as He led, we must remember that the more freely we forgive, the more clearly we reveal the nature of our Heavenly Father."

As we enter into a brand new year let us commit to being proactive about forgiving those who have been the source of pain in our life.