Cross

While We Were Enemies

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For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. Romans 5:10 ESV

These days there is much talk about spiritual warfare (and rightly so), with the emphasis on our battle against the devil. But what is often overlooked in this matter is the origin of that war and that is the warfare between us and God. From the moment Adam and Eve took the fruit that God had forbidden, all of us became traitors, chose independence from God and declared war on our creator. By unanimous consent we decided that our way was better than God’s and we chose rebellion and separation from our Heavenly Father in order to follow our desires. Of course, the devil does tempt us in order to enlist us in his battle against God, but what he did not count on was the Almighty God’s strategy and how Jesus came to counterattack and defeat him through the cross. Until the cross we really had very limited options on the spiritual battlefield. We were slaves to sin and by nature marched along to the commands of the enemy of our souls. But at Calvary, the devil’s uncontested claim over us was broken. As Jesus cried out in pain and weakness, “It is finished!” we were at once presented with a choice. We no longer have to be the enemy and betrayer of a Holy God. Now we can be His children, because the amazing, astonishing and powerful good news is that while we were still at war with God; Jesus died for us! What an amazing battle plan. What a hope we have. Now we can joyfully choose to surrender to Him and then by the power of His Holy Spirit we can win the warfare against anything the enemy throws down against us today! With God as the Captain of our unit, that’s a spiritual war worth fighting because our eternal victory is assured by the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Loving Our Enemies?

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But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Luke 6:35 ESV

I have long forgotten my professor’s name but still remember his comment that, “The Christian life isn’t hard – it is a miracle!” No verse more epitomizes this tension between our natural way of thinking and God’s than the concept of loving our enemies. Jesus wasn’t just a nice teacher teaching us nice things about how we should be sweet and polite. Not at all! The teachings of Jesus contain the most revolutionary thinking of all time! Who in the world thinks that loving enemies is a good idea? Does God really expect us to put this into practice?

Very rarely (like never!) do we hear about loving our enemies in most Christian circles. Instead we seem to think Jesus said, “Complain about your enemies to other Christians.” or “Lobby your local representative to pass laws making their behavior illegal.” Other times we take the approach of simply ignoring the whole “Love your enemy.” idea. But the pesky thing about God’s commands it that He repeats them so often that pretending that He didn’t say them requires us to ignore vast swathes of scripture.

If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, Proverbs 25:21

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Matthew 5:44

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. Romans 5:10

Now, it is not surprising that we are to love fellow Christians and maybe just a bit more difficult to love our neighbors, but loving people who don’t like us, or worse yet are shooting at us. That is not an easy concept to practice! I have had my own wrestling with putting this into practice, so I do not suggest that I have it all figured out. Are we supposed to win over evil people by just being good? After all, our goodness is just a pile of dirty rags. But God His sent His Son, “While we were still enemies.” to show us His heart and the way. God was so angry with our sin and the evil of what we have done, that instead of destroying us, He sent Jesus to die. That is the miracle. That is the Christian life. That is the only way to love our enemies and to win their hearts and minds for Him!

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”
G. K. Chesterton

The World Stood Still

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He had walked on water
Given life to the dead
He had fed five thousand
With five loaves of bread
But on the Cross
At His Father’s will
Jesus gave His life
While the world stood still

And the soldiers gambled
For the clothes He wore
His disciples trembled
Behind locked doors
But by His side
One thief believed
And Mary wept
As He struggled to breath
And the thunder roared
And the darkness fell
Then He cried “Forgive!”
And the world stood still

The World Stood Still by Peter Caligiuri copyright 2020
All rights reserved