Love Away Hurt
But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Matthew 5:44
Don’t you wish verses like these weren’t in the Bible sometimes? The hardest thing to do as Christians is love your enemies and bless those who have purposefully hurt you. Not only is it hard to do, but the devil will do his best to keep reminding you why you should hold a grudge.
It’s much easier on our flesh to ignore that person and remove them from our life. There are definitely times when we should distance ourselves from certain people for our own safety. Walking in love doesn’t mean you are to get stepped on or abused. When I have been hurt, I don’t necessarily want to retaliate, but I want to distance myself a little.
It takes wisdom and discernment to handle situations with people who have hurt you. As pastors, my husband and I have been hurt by people more often than we recall. Each time we forgave and learned from it. And yes, we continue to pray for those people when the Holy Spirit prompts us to.
There is a reason Jesus instructs us to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate, and pray for those who spitefully use us. It causes healing to take place in our souls. Again, it doesn’t mean that you have to be best friends with whoever hurt you, but it will free your spirit to receive blessings from God.
Dear Lord, help me live out the call to love others – even my enemies. Help me to have discernment and wisdom where I need it. Amen.
