Reflect, Release And Restore – The Grace Of Loving Your Enemies
LENT 2023 | DAY 12
Matthew 5:43-48 (NIV)
(Yeo Su Chen, Chairperson, Wesley Communications)
READ:
Matthew 5:43-48 (NIV)
DAILY REFLECTION:
One of the hardest things to do in life is to forgive those who have hurt us. Yet, one of the hardest realities in the Christian life is that God wants us to do just that.
One familiar story of the power of forgiveness is that of Corrie Ten Boom with the prison guard at the concentration camp where she and her sister, Betsie, were in during the Holocaust. Betsie would later die at the camp. When Corrie came face to face with the guard many years later, she struggled to forgive momentarily but when she decided to release her forgiveness, a powerful warmth enveloped her.
Jesus is my best role model in the difficult business of loving my enemies. He demonstrated to me how despite experiencing hurt, I too can forgive my enemies.
I first experienced the power of loving my enemy when I was 16. On the first day of a new school year, I found myself suddenly ostracised by my close friends who had conspired to take up all the seats in our usual row, leaving me no choice but to take the most undesirable seat in the entire classroom. For many months, I felt hurt and isolated.
On the eve of my GCE O-level exams, one of them called me out of desperation and told me that she needed a place to stay to go through the exam period peacefully. Despite the objections from my parents who were worried that my studies would be affected by the sudden disruption, God laid it on my heart to put aside the confusion and chaos I had endured throughout the year, and say yes to her request.
By accommodating my friend during a difficult period in her life, I realised I had forgiven her for all that had happened. God worked in me and helped me display Jesus in one small action. I experienced what it meant to “heap burning coals” on my “enemy”.
In “Everything Everywhere All At Once”, a film that has been nominated for 11 Oscar awards, the character Waymond, a passive husband, said: “The only thing I do know is that we have to be kind. Please, be kind. Especially when we don’t know what’s going on.”
To be like Jesus, we need to choose mercy and kindness. This Lent, may I devote myself to allowing God to shape and transform me so that I may love those who are hard to love.
FAMILY DISCUSSION POINTERS:
1. How did Jesus respond to those who persecuted and punished Him unjustly?
2. What does forgiving your enemies mean to you? Is the focus more about your enemies or your peace and relationship with God?
3. Think of someone who has hurt you recently. Perhaps it was an unkind word or a careless gossip. Will you pray for him or her and think about releasing that hurt to the Lord?
