How do We Love Our Enemies?

E. Stanley Jones once wrote about the three levels at which humans interact: the demonic level, the legalistic level, and the kingdom level. 

When we return evil for good we are living at the demonic level. 

When we return evil for evil and good for good we are living at the legalistic level — I respond to hate with hate and to love with love. 

The kingdom level that Jesus calls us to is where we return good for evil. 

Under Jesus’ rule, we join God in his conspiracy of overcoming evil with good. 

In Jesus’ kingdom the other person's evil conduct does not determine our own. 

We refuse to be an echo. 

We refuse to contribute to the sum total of evil in the world. 

If we respond to evil with evil it just leads to more evil — evil doesn’t disappear, it just spreads into our own character. 

Instead of being an echo of hostility, we are invited to be a mirror of God’s grace, reflecting to the world his goodness.

Jesus tells us to love our enemies. 

In scripture love is just not a feeling. 

We will never feel charitable to our enemy. 

If love is just a feeling, it will feel impossible to love our enemy. 

Love is a decision. 

Love is a commitment. 

Love is the desire to seek the best for another person. 

More than that, love is to desire their ultimate flourishing in a right-relationship to God and to act toward that end. 

Love in the Bible is not abstract.

Love is concrete.

Love is as concrete and demanding as your neighbour next door.

It is easy to love humanity in the abstract, or your enemy in the abstract.

Humanity as an idea doesn’t throw loud parties, or park in your spot, or leave irritating notes on your windshield when you park in their spot, or gossip about you at the office, or take credit for your work, or post antagonistic, simplistic, misleading memes on social media about your cherished beliefs, 

Your neighbour, or co-worker, or family member might do all of those things. Your enemy might do all of those things and enjoy it. We are not called to love humanity as an idea.

We are called to love our neighbour who is acting like an idiot and our enemy who seems downright evil. 

In other words, we are called to will there ultimate good and act toward that end. 

It is less of a feeling and more of an action. 

In doing so, we are not an echo, we are a mirror. 

In doing so, we don’t repay evil for evil, which just leads to more evil — instead we overcome evil with good by the grace of God. 

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