We are Clay

“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Matthew 5:44

Sometimes our enemies live with us or are our relatives or friends. Think Cain and Abel, Luke Skywalker and his dad, or the countless stories of fathers abusing their wives and children. I remember back in college when I would tell my classmates that I was working in the family business, some would comment adamantly, "I'd never work for my parents!!! We would just quarrel every day!" Most of the time our enemies are those who are close to us. After all, how can anyone hurt us if we do not care about them? It is those we love who have the most capacity to wound us. 

How do we love our enemy, our mother, who deeply injures us when she compares us to our siblings? Our enemy, our dearest closest friend, who told our secrets to someone else? Our enemy, our brother, who abandoned us when we needed his protection? Our enemy, our uncle who kept the money given to him for safekeeping for himself? People always disappoint. That's what people do. People are made of clay, easily broken, in need of redemption. WE are made of clay, we disappoint. We usually cannot give what others expect of us.

What we need is God's love shining through our brokenness, our cracks. After all, we can only love because He first loved us (1 John 4:9). We cannot give what we do not have. To love our enemies, or our friends, we need to be confident in God who loves us immeasurably, forgives us unconditionally, and will walk with us till the end.