Loving Our Enemies
And so the Foremans started to raise funds to get themselves over to North Africa. They asked a whole lot of friends and spoke in a number of churches to try and get some support.
And then 9/11 happened, and suddenly their American friends didn’t want to support their cause at all. Suddenly, some of their friends started to believe that to minister to Muslims was to be disloyal to their country. They withdrew their financial support and, in fact, told the Foremans that they were working for the enemy by going and ministering to Muslim people.
Loving Your Enemies in a Divided World
Emily equates this to the Zealots in the Bible, who were a group of Jewish people who wanted to violently overthrow the Romans. She says that, much like the Zealots, we can be tempted to feel that Muslims are imposing on our freedoms, our language, and our way of life.
However, Christ wasn’t intimidated by the Romans. He came to love, save, and redeem them. He taught His followers to love their enemies and bless those who curse them. Matthew 5:44
What a contrast to the Zealots. She said, “Our enemy has become al Qaeda, the extremist Muslims. But what if we choose to love our enemy? What if we decide to take Jesus’ words seriously and fight fire with love?”
Choosing Love Over Fear
Even though Muslim extremists had wreaked such havoc on the American nation, these two people decided that instead of fighting back, they would love back. They would turn the other cheek, as Jesus said, and go and spread the love of Jesus to Muslim people.
And I love what she says at the bottom of page 22: “Our knees got a lot more floor time after 9/11.” In other words, they spent much more time praying after that day.
I wonder if you’ve got enemies that you need to love. I wonder if there’s somebody you feel like you want to take out, but instead you are called to love with the love of Jesus.
The Power of Prayer and Christlike Love
This whole book, for me, was an eye-opener. It showed me that Muslim extremists are very few and far between. Most Muslims are loving, kind, gentle people who simply need to be shown the love of Christ so that they too can follow Him.
Friends, let’s not fight our enemies. Let’s love them like the Foremans. Let’s go even into enemy territory—not to wreak havoc, but to love. Because, you see, it’s only when we love people with the love of Christ, the Prince of Peace, that true transformation can come.
So will you give your knees a lot more floor time, praying for Muslim people who are in bondage to false beliefs? Would you reach out to Muslim people and people of other religions in love and show them what the love of Jesus is?
Please remember, friends, that you are called to love everybody—even those who curse you—with the love of Jesus.
Jesus’ last miracle before he died was to heal a man. How unlike Him is Peter, who lashes out!