Loving Your Enemies

Once I was waiting at the baggage carousel at Laguardia when people began clapping, pointing, and calling out. I looked to see President Bill Clinton walking through the terminal...right into the Men's room (After it had been cleared by Secret Service). I turned to the man next to me and profoundly said, "when you gotta go, you gotta go." King Saul was in pursuit of David when he had to go. There were no public restrooms nearby so he chose a cave so he would have a little privacy. Little did he know that his chosen stall was already occupied by none other than David himself. This was David's chance to strike Saul when he least expected it. Instead he would sneak up and cut a little corner off of his garment to show that he meant Saul no harm. Even when David's own men edged him on he resisted the opportunity to harm his enemy.

It's a fun story, but doing good to those who oppose us can be rather challenging in every day life. A coworker who seems bent on pulling us down, a classmate who slanders us, a neighbor who is difficult to get along with, or any other scenario where we find ourselves with an "enemy," is never easy. Yet, Jesus taught us love our enemies, David exemplifies this for us, and the Bible teaches us that while we were still God's enemies Christ died for us. Loving your enemy won't always be easy, but it is the right thing to do and God is glorified through it.

I don't know what the walls of Bill Clinton's stall had written on them at the airport. Some pretty profane things make it onto the walls of men's rooms. But I do know that a valuable lesson was learned in a stall in the desert one day. I hope to follow David's example (not the sneaking up behind people in the bathroom, I mean the doing good to who opposes you).

Following the Son,

James Williams