Enemy Love

by: Adam Stout

Who is your enemy? Is it the obnoxious coworker? The class bully? A difficult relative? Jesus left his disciples with the instructions: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:44). It is, perhaps, the hardest of all his commands.

Today’s Scripture shows this difficult command in action. Saul was a killer of believers—a true enemy of the church. But after the Lord blinds Saul, he is taken to a Christian named Ananias, who prays for his enemy, calling him “brother Saul” before Saul has even been baptized.

The rest of Acts illustrates how the enemy Saul became the apostle Paul. Paul ended up writing more New Testament books than any other person. But at the time, no one could have known what God had in mind. The followers of Jesus simply had to pray for their enemies and trust Jesus’ words.

God came to us when we were acting as enemies. Paul says in Romans 5:8 “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We can now be called friends of God. Since God has done this for us, we also can pray for—and love—even our enemies.