Enemies Lose

Before Jesus entered Mary's womb to be born into this world, He had enemies. One enemy with many followers wanted to stop Him from doing God's will. This enemy, Satan, still does not want people to be reconciled to God. I think it is because He wants to have angels and people bow down to Him. But, as we know, Jesus finished what God had sent Him to do. He became the sacrifice for all sins of all time so that we could come back to God.

When Jesus was very young His enemies found out about His coming and in order to make sure He could not be our King, Herod ordered all baby boys two years old and younger in Bethlehem to be killed . What a horrible scene that is in my mind! But God warned Joseph and they fled with Jesus to save Him.

People tried to push Jesus off a cliff because they did not like what He preached. The leaders of the Jews plotted to find a way to remove Him. He even had a traitor among His disciples. Judas may not have started out as an enemy, but fell into greed and became an enemy of The Son of God. The multitudes that followed Jesus and were fed and healed by His miracles, and cheered Him when He rode into Jerusalem, became enemies when He did not do things the way they thought the Messiah should. They called for Him to be crucified!

Jesus had many enemies, but He loved each one. He wanted them to hear and receive the good news, but He knew there would be many who would not. Jesus showed us that even when we have enemies, or those who oppose us, we can still love. We can love because love is not a feeling. Love is a choice we make to want the best for the other person.

I find that choice difficult to make at times. But it always helps to remember that Jesus had a hard time loving those who wanted to hurt Him. He prayed to The Father that He wouldn't need to love sinners and die to save them, but He chose God's will not His own. If He can do it through the power of the Holy Spirit who lived in Him, I can, too, through that same Spirit that lives in me.

Jesus, You lived surrounded by sinful people who wanted to be saved, to be better. But, You also lived surrounded by those who chose to fight You and resist Your love. Forgive me when I push Your love away when I want to hate my enemies. Strengthen my faith so that I might be bold to love them like You do! I want to bow my knees to You and say Your will be done.