“To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, gift wrap your best coat and make a present of it. If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant’s life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.

                              Luke 6:27–30 MSG

– Reflection:

                   Who Are Your Enemies?

Who are your enemies? Do you have any? Who hates you? Anyone? Most of us would probably answer no. We might even conclude that these words, spoken so long ago, have become a little irrelevant in our everyday lives. And we might try to just move on to the next set of instructions. But should we? Can we? The answer is absolutely not. These particular instructions are as relevant to us right now as they are challenging and as they are important. Our King, Jesus Christ, is calling on us to love even those hardest to love. And we know people like that.

Where do we go from here?

Who’s mistreated you? Who’s let you down? Who’s taken advantage of you? Maybe someone at work? A family member? A friend? A neighbor? Someone you barely know? “Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst.” We must treat those who’ve treated us badly well. We must help those who will never help us back. We must be generous to those who are anything but. And we must be merciful to them all. But not only that, we must be merciful again and again and again. You see, what Jesus is teaching us is that we must grasp and embrace that we don’t fight evil with yet more evil; we fight evil with good.

Our Prayer for Today

Father, today we are going to pray for the hardest person for us to pray for. We have that person in mind. Let God the Holy Spirit lead you in how to pray for them. Honor the negative thoughts that can arise surrounding this person during prayer, throw those away, and begin to build a successful prayer life for these people. Thanks, Father, for giving us the strength to honor you in all we do. Amen.