Enemies

I try very hard not to make enemies. An enemy is someone who trying to cause me harm and it hateful toward me. I don’t believe that I have a bunch of those, but I’m confident that I do have some. I believe there is a difference between a true enemy and a person with whom I have a disagreement. I’ve seen democrats and republicans come together as colleagues when it comes to defeating a common enemy. On other domestic issues, they appear to be enemies.

The people of Israel who had been exiled to their homeland after 70+ years of captivity had returned home with the blessing of Cyrus, King of Persia. So they start the clean up of Jerusalem and specifically the temple. Their bad neighbors see the restoration and I think they start getting nervous. The bad neighbors try pretending to join them in the work, but the people of Jerusalem politely decline. Then they send people to speak privately with the different family members to plant doubt and try to discourage. This tactic didn’t work either, so they reach out to the Xerxes, King of Persia. They warn him of Israel’s past and ask him to stop the work. Check this out…

23 As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai the secretary and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop.

24 Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. (Ezra 4:23-24 NIV)

I can imagine the frustration that the people of Jerusalem must have felt. They were restoring the temple, their city and their hearts in the process.

I’m thankful that Jesus gave some instruction about dealing with our enemies. I can disagree profoundly with others, but I must careful that my disagreements not turn to hatred. I believe that I must learn to process my feelings and emotions so that my frustrations don’t end up causing me harm. I believe that hatred can be extremely self destructive to me instead of the person who is the focus of my anger. I really have to have a lot of help from the Lord to keep this in check.

I must come to terms with the things that I have control over and the things that I can’t control. I can’t help it if another persons chooses to be an idiot or willfully stupid (tongue firmly in cheek). I usually think people who disagree with me are not as smart as me. I’ve learned, as I’ve gotten older that there are always other angles to just about every situation. It’s wise for me to try to understand those in opposition to me prior to making myself understood. I was reminded of Jesus command to “Love my enemies and pray for them” (my paraphrase).

Pressing On!

Dwayne