"You
have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for
those who persecute you (Matthew 5:43-44,NIV)
We live in a world
where Christians respond to libel and false accusations with lawsuits;
persecution with vengeance and hatred with more hatred. I understand it is
impossible to lead the Christian life without the enablement and quickening of
the Holy Spirit. But from the quality of Christianity that pervades our society
today, it is very obvious that the Master’s counsel is not being adhered to as
touching how believers interface with the world and respond to persecution.
The Lord Jesus’
teachings covered every major aspect of the Christian life. His teachings were
not lifeless, abstract, impracticable nuggets that came as byproducts of brainwaves.
They were jewels mined from the high quality and exemplary life He led in the
days of His earthly ministry. Dr. Luke, the author of the books of Luke and
Acts of the Apostles testified thus:
In
my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to DO and to
TEACH (Acts 1:1, NIV)
The operative words
in the verse of Scripture above are DO and TEACH. Jesus did all that He taught.
His teachings were drawn from His doings. So when He commanded His followers to
do anything, it was because He had already modeled it in His life.
Jesus commands,
even today, that the panacea for persecution and slander is not human, carnal
response which is always unproductive but a divine, productive response prayer.
By the way, persecution and all kinds of rough treatments are still an integral
part of the Christian faith. We should never come to the point where we begin
to delude ourselves into thinking the world should give us accolades for our
faith. If anything the Master has prepared our minds to expect persecutions.
And when they do come, and come they will, we should be able to respond
accurately. It is human to feel hatred for those who persecute you; it is very
natural to formulate potent curses for those who bruise you. But on the account
of our faith which is regulated by a higher life – God’s very life, that we
carry; the responses are and should be different.
Jesus said to love
our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, why? This is simply because to
end the darkness in the world we must shine His light. To shine His light, our
character must be transformed, reframed and reengineered by His word and Spirit
to look exactly like His. How? By how we respond to the negativity, resistance
and contradictions in the world. Everybody is a saint until persecutions come.
Kingdom advance is largely hinged on the conduct of believers by which they
directly interface with the word.
Why does the devil
sling persecutions on believers? To get them offended. Offence is to the
believer’s spirit what cholesterol is to the blood vessels – it blocks the free
flow of life and life supply until it eventually leads to total system shutdown.
The devil’s goal is to shutdown the believer’s spirit so that the believer will
stop receiving life and life supply from the Spirit of God. The believer’s heart and mind become gangrenous
with bitterness so that can they no longer absorb the glory of God which is
found on the face of Jesus in fellowship. Nothing hinders communion with the
Spirit of God like biterness.
The devil stirred
the whole of Israel against Jesus. The devil diligently kept trying to make
Jesus pick offence by crafting and deploying the most vile and lethal
persecutions against Jesus through people. Jesus responded by simply praying
for them even to His very last excruciating moment on the cross. Jesus endured
physical and emotional attacks, warded off spiritual attacks, took all shades
and colours of persecutions without cracking under pressure. The Holy thing
which He carried upon which the salvation of mankind depended was guarded
jealously at the peril of His own reputation. The Bible says of Jesus thus,
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation… (Philippians
2:6-7, KJV)
Jesus went to the
lowest low just to win the victory over the devil for mankind. His sacrifices
make it possible for a sweetness-filled, bitterness-free Christian experience
in spite of the myriad persecutions and offences around.
There will never come a time when the world
would applaud us for our faith. It is part of our calling to suffer His sake.
The Bible says:
For unto you it is given in the behalf of
Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake… (Philippians
1:29, KJV)
Any time people offend and hurt you, especially
your loved ones, it is not time to mull over the offence; it is time to pray.
Remain blessed.
Your brother,
Arome Osayi.
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