When is the last time I prayed for or did good to those who have mistreated me or betrayed me?

43 “You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 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. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

INSIGHT:   Welcome to one of the hardest commands of all, which will really prove whether we are in possession of the true grace of Jesus Christ, or not. 

For years I prayed God would give me an opportunity to bless my first ex-spouse Keri, in a way that went even beyond just continuing to pay child support even when she wasn’t letting me see the children, or by keeping her name anonymous in my story all those years, (until she revealed herself publicly), or by not taking her to court for the wrongs she had done.  A few times I had the money to pay her more than the required monthly amount, but nothing else significant ever came.  Through that I learned that sometimes, like with David and Saul, loving your enemy is not necessarily some actual deed that you do to them, but what you do not do to them, that could have done. (1 Sam 24:10-19, 26:9-11). 

But then I had another enemy that I was able to do an intentional good to.  It was a brother I had been discipling and someone I really liked and cared about.  The door opened for me to counsel him about some bondage he was experiencing from his past.  He was struggling with unforgiveness and anger issues towards his father who had hurt him.  Most of the time he was the nicest guy in the room, but when his thorns were touched, the smallest things could set him off to explode.  He saw he needed help, and I began trying to slowly walk Him through it.  Things were going well, and I was even invited to a family reunion type event, where I filmed all day to make a nice family video for them.  I’ve seen what happened next, several times.  Once we got to the root of his issue, Satan came in with a club and created a huge offense to separate him from me, (the person trying to help).  He got highly offended one day when I challenged his intellectual views on evolution and creation, with Scripture.  Then he became even more offended when I pointed out that He was asking God for help in his life and family, while still prominently displaying pictures and artifacts from Egypt all over his home.  I pointed out that these were symbols and relics from the greatest enemy of God’s first chosen people in the Bible, and he was glorifying them as artwork on his walls.  Deu 7:26 says, “Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. Utterly abhor and detest it, for it is set apart for destruction.” It wasn’t long before he turned on me.  I went from being the person he told others was the one who helped him get back on track with God, to being the one who was now mentally ill and leading people to hell.  The devil takes bondage of professing believers very seriously!

Even still, he kept having others ask me about the video and when I could finish it.  It doesn’t fit with human reasoning to take your time editing a video for someone that is running around slandering you, but it fits with Jesus.  I finished it before the end of the year and gave it to his family as a nice little surprise.  I felt such a joy in my heart, and even though he never repented, and we never reconciled, Jesus says we will be rewarded when we bless our enemies and do good to those who hate us. 

This is impossible to do on your own, but if you truly desire to obey God, He will give you the grace to do this.  This is how you know when you are really maturing in your faith, and when you get here, you will be surprised at how easy it is, because the Spirit of Christ has enabled you to do so.  Don’t wait for the feeling to come to bless your enemies.  The feeling and the grace will come only after you make the first move in faith.  Faith without works is dead.