Matthew 5:44,46 “But I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you… If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax-collectors doing that?”
During the American Revolutionary War, a Baptist pastor called Peter Miller was good friends with General Washington. Miller lived in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, and found himself hounded and abused by an aggressive and antagonistic man called Michael Wittman. Wittman found himself arrested on suspicion of treason, and sentenced to death. The old preacher set out on foot and trudged the whole seventy miles to Philadelphia to plead for this man’s life. Washington welcomed him in and heard him beg for the traitor’s life to be spared. He then addressed Miller: “I’m sorry, Peter, I cannot grant you the life of your friend.” The preacher exclaimed: “My friend? He is the bitterest enemy I have!” Washington cried: “What? You’ve walked seventy miles to save the life of an enemy? That puts the matter in a different light. I will grant the pardon.” And he did. The next day, Peter Miller took Michael Wittman from the his cell on death row back to their home in Ephrata – no longer as an enemy, but as a friend.
We all have enemies, or at least people who rub us up the wrong way. Think of them right now. God loves them, died for them, and wants them to know him. However hard it might be, could you do something positive for them? However undeserved, could you take the first step in building or rebuilding a bridge towards them? Abraham Lincoln was once rebuked by his advisors for being so kind to his enemies. He replied: “Do I not destroy my enemies by turning them into my friends?” A friend of mine in Burundi called Jack has destroyed his enemy by going back to the spot where the latter murdered Jack’s father, and preaching love and forgiveness arm in arm with him. What could you do today?
Lord, in your strength I choose to love my enemies. Amen!
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