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Who is your greatest enemy? Is it your third grade rival who
relentlessly declared your awkward tendencies to the
world? Is it an unapproachable college professor whose
ironclad expectations make students drop like flies? Does it go
deeper to a family member who betrayed your trust, wounding
you in secret, soul-scarring places?

When it comes to conversing and coexisting with people we
don’t see eye-to-eye with, we tend to act primarily on emotion.
According to Ben Stuart of Breakaway Ministries in Texas,
“Society is both overly sensitive and insensitive. Feelings have
become the standard. If we disagree, there’s less dialogue and
more destruction. If you hurt me, I must destroy you. The more
we dehumanize, the more we polarize.”1 Our generation is prone
to thinking about the self so much that we can’t help but dwell
on who has hurt me and who disagrees with me. However, have
you ever stopped to wonder who thinks of you as their enemy?
Would it disturb you to know that one person who holds that
position is God Himself?

It’s true. Every single person is an enemy of God because, “As it
is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none
who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have
all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable, there
is none who does good, no, not one’” (Romans 3:10). And yet,
God longs for us. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” He says, “the one
who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!
How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen
gathers her chicks under wings, but you were not
willing!” (Matthew 23:37). Finally, Romans 5:8 is the epitome of
God’s love towards us through our hostility, for it says, “But God
demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while were still
sinners, Christ died for us.”

Because God is holy and perfect, we are by default separated
from Him. However, though we start out as His enemy, we don’t
have to stay that way. Jesus Christ entered this world with the
sole purpose of transforming our estranged relationship with
God into one filled with love, healing, and hope if we are willing
to trust Him. Because Jesus was willing to give up His own life for
those who hated Him, as Christians we are both commanded to
(and capable of) loving across enemy lines.

ASSESSING THE OPPOSITION

Growing up, we’re taught that “hate is a strong word” and
therefore we are often discouraged from using it. Instead, we
stuff that emotion deep down inside of us and put on a good
face that shows we get along with everyone. If we’re honest,
though, most of us have hated someone at one point or another.
Usually it’s because of something they did or said (or a
combination of the two) over a period of time that resulted in ill
feelings. We ruminate over these situations and refuse to forget.
Forgetting would be equal to forfeiting, and it seems ridiculous
to let them off the hook that easily.