6 Actual Ways To Love Your Enemies & Why You Should Do It

To listen to the blog post “Why & How To Love Your Enemies” over reading then click the play button below.  

In this post, I am going to tell you why and how we should love our enemies. Because the fact of the matter is that loving your enemies is hard. It sounds like an oxymoron. But before I get into the post, check out my video on how God deals with your enemies, and click here to subscribe to my channel for more awesome content.

1. Love Your Enemies ~ Who Is An Enemy?

An enemy by definition is a person who is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something. So to answer the question why is it hard to love your enemies well, why would you want to. Why would you want to love someone that hates you, persecutes you, does you wrong?  It just does not make sense and it goes against our natural human instinct.  It is easier to hate those who hate you and dish out the same disrespect that your enemies do and plus most of the time it makes us feel better.

2. Love Your Enemies ~ Why should we love our enemies?

The short answer is because we are supposed to. God is calling us to do the right thing and not the easy thing. The easy thing is to give back to the person what you feel you are getting from them. If they hate you then why not hate them back right? WRONG. For the Bible states:

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.” Luke 6:32-33

If you are an enemy of your enemy then you are literally not doing anything special. There is nothing godly about that because as Christians we are called to do something different. And hating people is not different that is what most people who are not even Christian would do. As Christians, we are called to mirror the emotions of God which is love, for all people, no matter what. For the Bible teaches us

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,  bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Luke 6: 27-28

3. To Love Your Enemies Is To You Bless Yourself

So I really hope that the simple fact that God wants you to love your enemies is enough for you to do it. But in case it isn’t what if I told you to love your enemies means you bless yourself. And the reason why I know this is because the Bible tells us this.

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

A wicked person earns deceptive wages, but the one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward. Proverbs 11:18

All these verses really tell us if we do good, and do what the Bible is telling us to do then we will be rewarded for our efforts. God knows that loving your enemies is hard and that is why if you choose to do it and go against the grain of worldly thinking then God sees that you are for Him and He rewards you for your efforts.

4. Love Your Enemies ~ If You Don’t Forgive Your Enemies How Can God Forgive You?

You know that God has given us grace right? And at the end of the day, no one is perfect and there are some things that you do wrong. And guess what? Because you are a Christian you expect that when you go to God that He will forgive you for your sins.

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew 6: 14-15

The point that I am trying to make here is that once again forgiving and even loving your enemies is for your own good. Of course, you want to be blessed, stay in God’s good graces, and be forgiven for your sins right? If that is the case then you have to extend the same courtesy to other people.

Trust and believe I have been hated, persecuted, I have been called dumb, gullible, and thought of as weak because I wanted to love my enemies. Or let me be real with you for a second, I did not really want to love my enemies but I had to for the reasons I just told you.

In the worldly way of thinking, people do not understand forgiveness, because they equate it with not standing up for yourself.  But, the reality is that it takes more strength to forgive someone that has done you wrong than it does to hate someone that has done you wrong.  Hating a person who hates you is easy, but where does that get you? It gets you in a bad place with God and you will reap hate because that is what you have sown.

5. Love Your Enemies ~ Case in point:

I once had an old boss that was so insecure.  She was hated by all and no one wanted to be around her.  She forced people to be her friend by using pay raises and promotions as a weapon to be hanged over our heads.  And then for kicks, she would scream at us and degrade us in front of others.  She knew if people wanted a promotion they would simply have to take it.  And many people did.

And to me, she would often follow me around in the halls and get mad when I did not want to have a conversation with her.  She would call me into the office and ask about my personal life, men I was dating, and then get mad when I did not want to tell her.  She would cut hours from me, lie about me, and tell other employees not to talk to me among other things.

All of this, of course, was stressful and the natural reaction would be for me to go back at her at hard as she was coming at me.  But when you are Christian God should start to transform your mind, the way you look at things, and the way that you look at people.

Yes, it would have been easier to be evil back BUT more than anything when you read this, do you not feel sad for her? It was sad that she had to force people into being her friend? Sad that she had to use her position as a supervisor as a way to dominate people?

The hate that I could have used for her was used instead for me just feeling sorry for the type of person that she was.  And I realized that I should not waste any mind space retaliating against her instead I should pray for her.   Her living in her insecure mind should be torment enough.

During that time, I went to enroll to get my Master’s degree. Another process that she tried to stop. I asked my direct supervisor (not the insecure boss) to write me a letter of recommendation and she agreed.  The day that the recommendation was due my direct supervisor told me that she could not write it because our other boss told her not to.  To make a long story short:

• Not only did I go on to get a master’s, but also a Ph.D., and I am a nationally certified counselor. 

• My newfound education helped me get a better job and away from her.

• And most importantly, although her bullying in the workplace was torture, it just made me stronger and it did not stop any of the plans that I had for myself.

I also have a video on how to clap back and handle yourself as a Christian.  Which can be very useful in the workplace and dealing with enemies.

6. Love Your Enemies ~ What’s my point?

Because I chose not to feed into her and did not allow her ways to distract me. I was blessed because of it.  You have to understand that when you bless other people you are blessing yourself.

And

• “What is for you will always be for you even if your enemies try to get in your way. So there is no need to fear your enemies”

• No need to fear what your enemies are doing to you or even let their actions affect you. The only person you should fear is God. God is watching and He is waiting for you to do the right thing. Waiting for you to do what is hard. And when you do, He wants to bless you for it.

• And that is where loving your enemies will get you. It is like that old saying ” I am rubber and you’re glue whatever you say will bounce off of me and onto you.” When you love your enemies and they are undeserving, the blessing comes right back to you.

And

“When your enemies curse you and you are protected by God, their curses and hatred goes right back on them.”

Like my crazy boss, when people hurt you, what they are really saying; is that they are hurting on the inside themselves.  They do not know how to find a positive outlet for their emotions and so they just have dysfunctional behavior toward other people. Something is wrong with them; not you.

It is their problem, not yours, but you can make it your problem by using retaliation and not using forgiveness. Wallowing in unforgiveness and hatred toward anyone allows the flaws they have in their personality to affect you.  Now do not get it twisted forgiveness does not mean that you will be their punching bag (see my blog here).

I do not suggest anyone put themselves in a position to allow themselves to be abused by other people.  You can love your enemies from a distance.  You do not have to go to lunch and drink coffee with them, but you can still choose to love them.

If you choose not to forgive but remain in hatred and animosity toward them, then you will allow their demons to swallow the good about you as well. All that torment that they have on the inside will come back on you, just like that rubber and you’re glue situation.  So choose to love your enemies. For your own sake and for your own peace of mind.  When you love your enemies it is for your own good and it really has very little to do with our enemies.

If you know someone who could use this information then feel free to share this post with them.

To help you out with affirmations to help you stay strong to deal with your enemies, then check out my Chrisitan Manifestation Guide with both Bible verses and affirmations.