Love Conguers All!

"I have fought against the people of the North because I believed they were seeking to wrest from the South its dearest rights. But I have never cherished toward them bitter or vindictive feelings, and have never seen the day when I did not pray for them." — Robert E. Lee

Matt 5:43-48

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. KJV

If ever there was a justification to be angry, bitter and to hate someone it would be during a time of war. It seems logical. They started it. They are evil. We are good. Yet, God's ways are often not in accord with our logic. Loving your enemies is crazy according to our perspective. Yet, man was the enemy of God since the fall of Adam and Eve. Logically, He should have just wiped Adam and Eve off the face of the earth and then created Barry and Freda as round two. Instead, God loved them and provided a covering for their nakedness and sin while promising a means of salvation for mankind.

It is easy to love those who love us and provide us joy and comfort. Our enemies usually give us no reason to love them. They may not be vicious enemies in that they do physical harm to us. Their modus operandi may be more passive aggressive, emotional abuse or backstabbing. In the end, there is nothing loving about their actions and the emotions that arise in us are not warm or fuzzy.

We often forget that we do so much that is acting like the enemy of God. We do what He says not to do and do not do what He says. Are those the actions of a lover or an enemy? James says if we love the World we are an enemy of God. Every time we sin it is somewhat like giving high fives to the devil or kissing him on the cheek while wanting to hands with Jesus saying we love Him. Yet, for those who are the children of God, we have Jesus ever standing before the Father praying for us and pointing to His wounds as the reason the Father should not strike us down like the enemy we are siding with and employing his actions. If this were church, I would expect a few amens and glories right here.

General Lee leads the way for us as he followed the command of Jesus. In this life, we will have many who will curse us, abuse us, hate us and persecute us. They crucified the Master. They will not love those who are following in His footsteps. Yet, we are to pray for them as they are deceived by the real enemy and without conversion will be doomed to Hell. We who have escaped the enemy's clutches by the grace of God need pray for those still enslaved though they despitefully use us. We were called to repentance and salvation by love and now we are called to love as He did and does. The enemy is hateful, but Christ endured the Cross that love might win. Raise that banner and conquer in His name. He is risen! Maranatha!