John 5:44 says, “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” and I find that inconvenient.
This morning your coach team is even at this moment walking through an issue that makes us feel like certain forces are working against us, and there are names attached to those forces. Personally, I am not feeling love or motivation to pray.
The difficulty in this verse is that personal connection. Praying for politicians I disagree with, or groups I find offensive is hard, but doable. This verse is calling me to pray for those that are directly messing with me. I love justice. I have a deep desire for the bad guys to get their due. Jesus’ call to love and prayer feels like I am betraying my own heart. And I am.
Jesus calls us to betray our hearts of flesh every day. Jesus calls us to surrender and let Him be Lord and judge. Jesus asks me to remember that I only want the bad guy to get his due when the bad guy isn’t me…because then I’m hoping for grace.
It is necessary for me to keep my blinders fixed firmly in place to maintain obstinate opposition to Jesus’ words. Please write back with stronger justification than I can find to ignore Jesus or pretend He didn’t mean what He said, I’m totally open to suggestions.
Aaron