One of the most difficult challenges Jesus left with us was to love our enemies and to do good to those who use us and treat us badly. Let's face it when someone does us dirty the last thing we want to hear is that we should start praying for them and even bless them! This goes against all that is within us naturally.The heart of His command is that anyone can forgive and pray for another but it takes a power from somewhere else outside of us to truly love an enemy. That's the mystery of God's grace. It doesn't make sense, it's undeserved, and it breaks through calloused hearts.
Now what if even though learning to love them takes time I told you I could make that task extremely beneficial, maybe even easy? What if I could help you make your enemies a tool in your hand to catapult you light years in your spiritual, mental, and emotional maturity?
Let me give you three ways you can turn your enemies into your own personal growth catalysts. After you read this you may wanna throw a party and celebrate the presence of your enemies in your life. You may even want to call them and beg them to come over for dinner. Not kidding! (Ok maybe a little).
1. Enemies can reveal your areas of weakness.
So right now your thinking, "Um, yeah everyone knows that-why would this be a good thing"? It's a good thing because in order for you to move forward or grow you're going to need to improve in your areas of weakness. You can't sweep them under the rug forever.
Here's the problem with that, you often never see yourself clearly enough to know all of your own weaknesses. Even though the Bible will tell you about your flaws it's still possible to read it with a biased self-vindicating lens.
If your thinking your friends will tell you what you need to work on-no they won't! They don't want to hurt your feelings especially to comment on issues of character. No one wants to comment on your issues for fear that someone might point out theirs. (Not to mention it's not their job!) We all are stronger in some areas and weak in others.
This is where your enemies come in handy. They will show you exactly what to work on. They have no problem telling you about those ugly areas no one (Even you) wants to address because they have no interest about how it makes you feel. That's what separates friend from foe. So even if they obviously have issues about how they should treat people, it gives us the opportunity to mine the gold from the situation.
Now obviously every accusation and complaint that's thrown your way is not automatically true. But behind every complaint could be an issue that needs work. There's a chance that addressing that flaw in yourself might turn you into a much more beautiful person. It could make you a better manager, employee, or Christian. Don't automatically discredit everything they say because you could be throwing away a huge opportunity to strengthen yourself! You might be throwing out a hidden reward!
We have to remember that anytime you want to grow or change for the better there must be an honest assessment of what is. Enemies will give you that!
2. Enemies bring out what is truly on the inside.
One time an acquaintance of an enemy of mine came to tell me that my enemy was going to do all of these awful things to get at me. I knew he wasn't joking too. I was dealing with some really shady people. Now I had so much dirt on this guy that I could have seriously sank his ship a long time before that instant. But somewhere in the middle of the 'battle' I realized something about myself. I never wanted to! Even after all of the terrible things he said and did and would likely do again I had no realistic intentions of harming him or his reputation. I told his messenger I didn't care what he was going to do because I was not going to allow it to turn me into someone I'm not! That enemy gave me something I couldn't have gotten anywhere else-the knowledge of how I would treat someone that truly sought to hurt me. He allowed me to catch a glimpse of what's really on the inside.
By the way, my enemy did do all of those awful things he threatened to do and I kept my word. Sometimes when people throw their worst at you they are actually helping you by giving you a chance to really test your faith. What would you do if someone threatened to try and ruin your reputation? Would you try to ruin theirs first or counter attack? Would you say, "Father, forgive them"?
Until your enemies or other trying situations test you, everything you believe you would do is nothing more than pure speculation. I meet people all the time that brag about all of these amazing things they would do and all the things they are going to do when things get tough. Then when things 'hit the fan' they cower. You don't know what you are going to do until you are faced with a situation.
When you get backed into a corner with no way out, that's when you get to see what you are truly made of. On 9/11 The world got to hear amazing acts of everyday employees, firefighters, and citizens that proved their true heart and beliefs because there was an enemy that created a chaos so great it tried many people to their cores. It revealed they were superheroes. As painful as the process might be, enemies have the ability to draw out the contents of our hearts!
3. Enemies can provide the fuel necessary for higher levels of success.
Can you think of a time when you were young that someone said or did something to you that was very hurtful? I'll bet you can. Think about it, you lived for hundreds and thousands of other days that were forgotten about and lost from memory. Why do you retain that memory? You remember it because of how it made you feel. The voices of our enemies stick in our heads whether we like them or not. It's kind of like a recorder that constantly replays itself. Sound depressing? It's not when you come to the realization that the voices of our enemies in our heads can drive us to succeed!
I can fill a book with some of the bad things people said to me and about me growing up. I used to carry it around with me everywhere I went like a weighted duffle bag. My luggage affected how I felt about life, myself, and others. Luckily, somewhere along the way in college it finally dawned on me that maybe it wasn't me that had the problem. Maybe it was true that only hurting people hurt people. From that point forward I decided that every time those negative comments and hurtful things replayed in my head I would allow them to play so that I could use them as fuel to achieve way more than they said I ever would. I would hear their voices saying, "You're not smart enough to graduate college and you'll never be able to afford that!". "You'll never live in a nice home or drive a new car because that cost a lot of money which you aren't going to make." I did all of those things by the time I was in my mid twenties and some out of pure spite just to say to them, "Watch me".
Some victories I experienced later in life were WAY out of my comfort zone but I attempted them simply because someone told me that I couldn't. I would not have had the motivation to try without the fuel of my naysayers pushing me to prove myself. I can thank my enemies for raising the bar of my expectations. I can thank God for showing me that I am not subject to the opinions of others.
Besides the fact that enemies can give us fuel for higher levels of success there is something even more exciting than that they can provide for us. They create scenarios which evoke a response from God. You see God avenges those who do not avenge themselves. If you want to see God act then don't react to your enemies. Allow God to fulfill His job description, "Vengeance is mine thus saith the Lord".
If people at your work or in your family accuse you of things and say all kinds of things about you falsely don't react! Step back and allow God to elevate you. He rewards those who handle mistreatment without retaliation. So relax and rejoice! Trust that your day is coming! God has seen your mistreatment and will not let it go! God knows how to protect His people. If you haven't read the story of Joseph in the Bible it's worth your time.
Each of these three things are huge assets to you and I if we will learn to harvest them. None of these benefits seem worth the pain while our enemy attacks us but afterwards we have huge potential for growth. Assimilate those painful lessons learned into your thinking and don't allow your painful experiences to shut you down! God Bless!
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