My OperaEnemies Are Not God!
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 6:44:05 PM
Enemies. We all have one and invariably, we're one to someone somewhere. But what i don't quite get is our obsession with our enemies.
Just take a cursory look at peoples' facebook status updates and you're sure to find one comment or another about their "haters". Listen to any modern hip-hop/life tunes and you'll find their lyrics replete with how "haters" are "hating on them" and how they're gonna shine in the end to the shame of their enemies.
Even our churches aren't exempt from this enemy preoccupation. Visit any prayer meeting or all night service or prayer camps, and witness how people are caning their enemies(i.e. spiritually) and firing all sorts of spiritual ballistic missiles at their enemies...eish!
Don't get me wrong. I'm not for a moment suggesting we suddenly befriend our enemies and become their best of pals(anyway, if that's possible, all well and good). That'll be naive. I think we should be wary of our enemies and avoid them when we can, especially the overt outspoken ones, though i admit the covert enemies(i.e. enemies within) may be more harzadous in the long run. But is having known enemies all that bad?
Peter Kreeft said in 'The Case for Faith' that, " All suffering contains at least the opportunity for good". I think that is true. So in the light of this, i want to highlight what i percieve as a possible upside of having known enemies.
We may not notice it but enemies inadvertently help us raise our standard of living so we tend to set higher goals for ourselves. This may not be the best of motivations, but think about it. If you're concious of your adversaries always watching and monitoring your every move, you'll most of the time want to be at your best so they don't get to bad-mouth you. Thus we tend to outdo ourselves in our tasks. This is a good thing right?
C. S. Lewis in his novel 'The Last Battle' said, "a noble friend is the best gift and a noble enemy the next best". I think that's a good observation. So i'm sure you can now recount some ways in which having known enemies has been beneficial to you.
In conclusion i'll say, Love your enemies. It'll drive them CRAZY!!!
LostInThought
Michael
Just take a cursory look at peoples' facebook status updates and you're sure to find one comment or another about their "haters". Listen to any modern hip-hop/life tunes and you'll find their lyrics replete with how "haters" are "hating on them" and how they're gonna shine in the end to the shame of their enemies.
Even our churches aren't exempt from this enemy preoccupation. Visit any prayer meeting or all night service or prayer camps, and witness how people are caning their enemies(i.e. spiritually) and firing all sorts of spiritual ballistic missiles at their enemies...eish!
Don't get me wrong. I'm not for a moment suggesting we suddenly befriend our enemies and become their best of pals(anyway, if that's possible, all well and good). That'll be naive. I think we should be wary of our enemies and avoid them when we can, especially the overt outspoken ones, though i admit the covert enemies(i.e. enemies within) may be more harzadous in the long run. But is having known enemies all that bad?
Peter Kreeft said in 'The Case for Faith' that, " All suffering contains at least the opportunity for good". I think that is true. So in the light of this, i want to highlight what i percieve as a possible upside of having known enemies.
We may not notice it but enemies inadvertently help us raise our standard of living so we tend to set higher goals for ourselves. This may not be the best of motivations, but think about it. If you're concious of your adversaries always watching and monitoring your every move, you'll most of the time want to be at your best so they don't get to bad-mouth you. Thus we tend to outdo ourselves in our tasks. This is a good thing right?
C. S. Lewis in his novel 'The Last Battle' said, "a noble friend is the best gift and a noble enemy the next best". I think that's a good observation. So i'm sure you can now recount some ways in which having known enemies has been beneficial to you.
In conclusion i'll say, Love your enemies. It'll drive them CRAZY!!!
LostInThought
Michael
