Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honourable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.
Romans 12:14-18
Now Paul steps it up a few levels. Most of us have no problem loving someone who loves us back. Especially if they love us first. Remember I said a couple of days ago – When you love and show true brotherly affection for your fellow believer. Take the lead in showing honour and deference. Be the first one to do it, let them follow if they will. Don’t worry about whether they will love you in return. Don’t wait for an indication of a favourable response before you go further. Take the lead and really love them to the max. When you love like that you can leave the results confidently to the Lord. We are also told in Scripture to go to the household of faith. It helps to know that someone is a fellow believer. We can bless them because they are one of us. These are all natural feelings. It is the essence of φιλαδελφίᾳ (philadelphia) – loving the brothers and sisters in the Lord. This is normal and right.
But in the verses in focus today Paul moves beyond that. Now he is talking about blessing those who persecute you. Don’t curse them (the natural reaction) but pray the Lord will bless them. Wow that is not normal. That is right; nothing about loving God’s way is normal. And remember something else Paul knows all about this first hand. He has been on both sides of the persecution. He has been a persecutor and he has been a persecutee (i.e. persecuted). He knows what it feels like. He knows the natural feelings of retaliation that rise from the human heart but he also knows the higher road. He who has been forgiven much can also forgive much. That is the position that Paul knows experientially.
Notice too that he starts this section (which is really continuing the earlier thoughts) with bless those who persecute us. Then he turns to rejoice with those who rejoice, live in harmony, don’t repay evil with evil, live at peace with everyone. It is like he is coming down a notch again. One would think he would logically build up to the hardest level. But Paul knows if we can turn things around in our mind then all the different levels will fall out in sequence. He is starting with the radical loving our enemies first, the rest is simple if we can function at the highest level first.
Be radical in the degree you love. Don’t just grin and bear it. Don’t just be patient in persecution and bear it for Jesus. Don’t even pretend to love yet asking the Lord to deal with them behind the scenes. In fact ask the Lord to bless them, to do them good. We have enough difficulty if our fellow believer is blessed even a little more than what we are and we get bent out of shape over it. Paul is saying ask God to bless them. Can you rejoice when they are rejoicing but you are not? Can you weep with them when you are happy? It is all to do with empathy. Oh at times it might make us feel like we are schizophrenic with mixed emotions inside as we try to juggle these feelings but it is true Christianity.
As Paul says do all you can to live in peace with everyone. With who? With everyone! That means the Christian brother who is rejoicing at his good fortune at a time when you are hurting and he seems oblivious to your feelings. Or to the Christian brother who doesn’t understand you and attributes motives to you which you don’t have but his mind is made up that is how you are. Love him anyway. Or the boss who is persecuting you for some enigmatic reason of his own. And finally to the atheist or follower of another religion who is persecuting you just because you are a follower of Christ. Love them all. Pray for the Lord’s blessing to fall on them all. In fact in this list it is probably easier to love or bless the one who is persecuting you “in the name of the Lord” than it is to love the Christian brother who is closer and persecuting you. There is comfort in the knowledge that I can love when being persecuted. A higher calling so to speak.
Love and bless in all of these circumstances. Now that is hard advice you must admit.
Anon
Sympathy = I’m sorry you hurt, Empathy = I hurt with you. Compassion = I’ll pay any price to stop your hurt. Love like Jesus today.
Rick Warren
Where hate is involved the hater always loses more than the hated.
Anon