“But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Matthew 5:44 (NIV)
As I was teaching last Friday, messages kept flashing on my phone’s screen…PARIS ATTACKED…TERRORIST ATTACK ON PARIS…ISIS SUICIDE BOMBERS IN PARIS. I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. I began to pray for those in Paris.
Several days later, I watch the chat on Facebook, read the headlines of news websites, and see the gruesome pictures on the news. It’s a unanimous cry for justice. How long must we allow this group of people to attack innocent people? How many Christians have they killed? I see these stories and posts and I feel the anger rise in me.
I sit here with my Bible asking the Lord what I should write. Last week I had two different ideas running through my mind about what to write. For some reason, they have slipped my mind. I open my Bible searching for what to write and the Lord takes me to this verse.
“Love your enemies.”
“Pray for those who persecute you.”
I pause. Hmmm. Well, that’s one way to look at this. But that’s not what I want to do right now. I am full of compassion for the victims and their families. I am all about grieving with those who grieve. That feels right to me. However, the call for the believer is to go one step farther. To not only grieve with those who grieve but also to pray for those who committed this atrocity. Pray for those young men and women who have been deceived into thinking that killing others and themselves somehow honors their god. Pray that their eyes would be opened to the truth of the Gospel. Pray for their people to experience the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
Today’s challenge is a heavy one and not an easy one. Today’s challenge is to pray for our enemies. Join me today in praying for the lost members of Isis.
