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Today's Quote
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Today's Verse
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Daily Wisdom
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At first glance the words, "Love Your Enemy," defy understanding. There is no way that anyone can honestly love an enemy. -- or is there? Before rejecting the idea as something mushy and meaningless, let us look at the idea more closely. What does Jesus mean when he says to love? Most of us associate this with "like," but he does not tell us to like our enemy but to love him.
In Matthew 19:19 Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Maybe it is the same kind of love we are to have for our enemy. Just how do I love myself? Most of us do not like ourselves very much. We say and do things that embarrass us. We have pretty low self-images. In spite of this lack of liking for self, we love ourselves -- we want the best for ourselves.
I once read a story about an abandoned child who was taken in by a foster parent. When the foster-parent came to tuck the little girl in at night, the child's response was very cool. She actually said, "I hate mommies!" Her mother had abandoned her and she was now pouring out her loss in anger at her mommy and her foster parent.
Over the months she was at the house she never seemed to buy anything with her modest allowance. Finally, her grandparents got custody of her and it came time for her to pack and leave. As the foster mother helped her pack her little plastic suitcase, she came across a sock filled with coins. She knew then why the girl had not bought anything with her allowance, she had been saving it.
The foster mother asked the child what she was going to do with the coins. The child said, "Some day my mommy is coming home, and she will need it." She hated mommies and especially her mommy -- she did not like what her mommy had done to her. Deep down, however, she loved her mommy. God does not ask us to like our enemy but to long for conversion -- his coming home.
