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Love Your Enemies by Marnie Pehrson
If love is Christ's greatest message, then wouldn't He have given us clues as to how to accomplish it? Would He command us to do something that is impossible? Perhaps the secret to accomplishing this commandment is hidden in His other teachings. He also commanded, ''Judge not, that ye be not judged.'' (Matthew 7:1-5). At first glance you might think this commandment is just one more that is impossible to keep. After all, do you let a known serial killer in your front door because you don't want to judge him? Or do you let a known pedophile baby-sit your children? No, you have to use common sense and good judgement. Judgement -- now there's that term again -- that thing He said not to do. So how do we resolve this seemingly illogical commandment to ''judge not''? Here is the subtle solution. Jesus also reminds us that we cannot remove a mote (or splinter) from our brother's eye when there's a beam in our own eye. First we must remove the beam from our own eye so we can see clearly to cast the splinter out of our brother's eye. What are some beams that we might have in our own eye that would not allow us to remove a splinter from someone else's?
It's a simple truth that there is no way for us to know all the facts in a situation and that everyone sees an event from their own unique perspective. So how can we judge people? We can't! Only God sees clearly with no beams. He is the only one who sees the event from all perspectives. We have no right to slap an eternal judgment on someone else, but we may judge things -- actions or principles. We do not know the life history or circumstances of the child molester. He may have been abused himself. He may know nothing else. Giving him an excuse or a rationale for his behavior does not make it right. Neither does it give you the incentive to have him watch your child. But, when you separate his habit from him, you are then free to forgive him, have pity on him, and yes, even love him. You don't have to love or accept his habit or allow it to infringe upon your life. When we realize that we don't know all the facts or all the circumstances in another person's life -- when we realize we don't know all the steps that led up to making them the person they are, we then know why we are not the ones to sit in judgement on their eternal souls. We may judge their actions. Our judicial system is perfectly valid for determining consequences for actions. But, only God knows the soul, the heart and the mind behind the offending actions. Yes, we may judge actions. We may use good judgement when we decide whether we want someone else involved in our lives or the lives of those for whom we are accountable. But, when we are able to truly separate the offender from the offending actions, we will be closer to being able to forgive and even love them. Thus, ''judge not'' is the key to ''love one another.''
The author may be contacted at http://www.MarniePehrson.com
webmaster@shelovesgod.com.
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Marnie L. Pehrson is a wife, mother of 6, founder of SheLovesGod.com, and author of both inspirational Christian titles such as |
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