The day before Good Friday is called “Maundy Thursday.” It is the day of Christ’s great mandate. That day, after He had washed His disciples’ feet, He said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (Jn. 13:34)

If I were to ask you who you loved, I am sure you would answer with not just one, but several someones. I wonder, would any of those names be the name of an enemy?

It is easy to love those who love you and are nice to you, but what about those who aren’t nice?

In the days of the American Revolutionary War there lived at Ephrata, Pennsylvania, a Baptist pastor by the name of Peter Miller who enjoyed the friendship of General Washington. There also lived in that town a man named Michael Wittman, an evil-minded man who did all in his power to abuse and oppose this pastor. One day Michael Wittman was involved in treason and was arrested and sentenced to death. The old preacher started out on foot and walked the whole seventy miles to Philadelphia. He was admitted into Washington’s presence and begged for the life of the traitor. Washington said, “No, Peter, I cannot grant you the life of your friend.” The preacher exclaimed, “My friend! No! He is the bitterest enemy I have!” Washington exclaimed, “What? You’ve walked seventy miles to save the life of an enemy? That puts the matter in a different light! I will grant the pardon.” Peter Miller took Michael Wittman from the very shadow of death back to his own home in Ephrata, no longer as an enemy, but as a friend.

One of the prominent characters in the Old Testament is a model of God doing this. “As it is written, Jacob have I loved…” (Romans 9:13)

I’ll let you in on a secret. I don’t like Jacob; I don’t think I really ever have. “But how can you not like one of the Bible’s heroes!? Isn’t that like not liking Jesus?” No it is not. Jacob was a Hebrew patriarch, a man, not God. There is a lot not to like about him. Think about it – Even at birth he was grasping; that is why he was named Jacob (“He who grasps”). From then on he seemed to always be scheming, grasping.

It Bothered Esau. “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? He has deceived me these two times: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” (Genesis 27:36) Jacob grasped at the birthright, the blessing, Laban’s cattle….

What about his beloved Rachael? Was he nice to her? What about her sister Leah, Jacob’s first wife? God gave Leah a child because He saw that she was hated! Rachel was treated fine, but Jacob was not even satisfied with her and Leah. He took on concubines. His family life strikes a sour note. Things weren’t good. He quite obviously played favorites; so much so that Joseph’s brothers hated Joseph enough to think of killing him and then sold him into slavery in Egypt.

Here is what strikes me when God brings “Jacob have I loved” to mind. I don’t like Jacob, but God loves him. Even with all the sour, God loves Him. God loves the people I don’t like. This is where the rubber meets the road. We all have people we don’t like. God loves them and tells us to love them in response to Jesus’ love for us.

Do you have anybody you don’t like (Maybe not hate – just don’t like)? They are loud, smell bad, are foolish, hurtful, critical, nasty, and foul, someone who has hurt you, someone who doesn’t like you. You say, “They don’t like me and I don’t like them!”

God loves them. God wants to help you to love them like He does.

Matthew 5:43-48 “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, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the (sinners) doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” God loves them – God wants me to love them just like He does.

 

How does He love them? A counselee told me about the lousy family she grew up in – how badly she was still being treated. She said, “I have forgiven them, but I don’t owe them anything! They never built a relationship with me. If they are sick or hurt, it is no different than if it were a stranger. I stay away from them!” Aren’t you glad God didn’t forgive you that way?

His love is very practical. “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:20). “There is no love which does not become help.” (Paul Tillich).

“But they don’t deserve it!” That is the point of love. “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). “Most men need more love than they deserve.” (Marie Von Ebner – Eschenbach). That is me, you, the people you like, the people you don’t like. Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34)

This principle not just about outsiders. This principle hits us right where we live. It probably has to be used more in your home than out of your home. “Love is the thing that enables a woman to sing while she mops up the floor after her husband has walked across it in his barn boots.” (From the Hoosier Farmer)

Chew on this for a little while. God loves the people you don’t like. Do you? He is ready to give you the power to love them too.

Beth Moore is considered as a woman of the four P’s – purpose, preparation, prayer, and passion. She is the founder of Living Proof Ministries, which is a biblically-based organization for women established in 1994. This organization’s focus is to help women who desire to model their lives on evangelical Christian principles. Moreover, she shares her biblical insights, otherwise known as the Beth Moore Bible studies, by teaching the Sunday school at her local church and authoring a number of books.

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Books written by Beth Moore include Believing God, Stepping Up, Loving Well, Breaking Free, and Esther: It’s Tough Being a Woman, which she dedicated to her two daughters. This Bible study discusses women’s emotions, our need for a mother figure in our life, our insecurities, and our feelings towards other women.

Some of her other works are When Godly People Do Ungodly Things: Arming Yourself in the Age of Seduction; Jesus: The One and Only; The Beloved Disciple: Following John to the Heart of Jesus; The Patriarchs: Encountering the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Daniel: Lives of Integrity, Words of Prophecy; Living Beyond Yourself: Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit; To Live is Christ: The Life and Ministry of Paul; and A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place.

These books were written based on the Bible studies that she regularly conducts at the Living Proof Live conferences and at her local church, First Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. Although her target audience is obviously women, men can definitely come and attend her bible studies if they want.

The Beth Moore Bible studies have reached numerous countries including Ireland, England, India, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, and have certainly helped change countless lives.

In the name of preserving purity, the church has so separated itself from the world that it is no longer a transformative agent. If one reads all of the Old Testament stories literally, the view of God as loving becomes an impossibility. it’s not the wrath of God against evil-doers, but everyone in the neighborhood gets taken out as well. For what? For just being around- collateral damage!

There are many such Old Testament stories where the sin of one somehow infects the whole community. The message that comes across loud and clear is that we all need to be watching our brothers and sisters to make sure that they are maintaining community purity lest we get nailed. And just what IS community purity anyway?

Why are we living by the rules of the head anyway?

From such a theology comes collective blame for everything from the Irish famine to the Katrina hurricane. Of course we know that AIDS is the result of perverted sexual activities. And those who live a pure sexual life, but get AIDS through an infected blood supply: well, that’s just more collateral damage!

Does anyone remember Ai? Like Marcion, that’s not my God!

Such stories are vivid reminders (if you so interpret them) of how important it is that each church police its membership, that each denomination remains faithful to their dogmatic principles, and that we stay free of entanglements with other religions even though such behavior comes across as elitist.

Just as the Catholic community saw Protestantism adopt most of the their agendas, choosing only to knock down a few doctrines, Christianity carried forward the Jewish principles of separation of races, adherence to strict purity codes, and collective accountability for the holiness of the whole. In fact, for a season, the God of the Hebrews held me accountable for the sins of my great great grandfathers, but alas that was changed before we closed the books on the Old Testament.