But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. (Luke 6:27-29a)
Enemy Pie by Derrick Munson is a children’s book. A nameless boy places Jeremy Ross on his enemy list because Jeremy laughed at the boy when he struck him out in a baseball game. The boy’s dad makes enemy pie, and the boy imagines the awful ingredients going into such a pie. His dad told him before serving Jeremy the pie, he must spend a day with Jeremy. The boy discovers he didn’t know Jeremy’s heart before putting him on his enemy list, and the two boys become friends. At the end of the day, his dad serves enemy pie, and the boy warns Jeremy not to eat the pie because it’s poisonous. But Jeremy notices the boy’s dad has already eaten half of his pie. The boy wonders if enemy pie only works on enemies, but he concludes he’ll never get an answer because he just lost his best enemy.
Enemy Pie isn’t Christian fiction. The original wrongdoing of Jeremy Ross wasn’t addressed and part of the boys’ activities included throwing water balloons at girls. As yesterday’s Scripture referenced and we’ve learned throughout our lives, laughter at other people’s expense is common. The secular world teaches us it’s okay, and we shouldn’t be sensitive. God teaches us not to take it personally. His grace is enough. We should tell the perpetrator that his/her words hurt us and be prepared if the perp laughs again to turn the other cheek, give our enemy, Enemy Pie, and pray for that person to have a closer relationship with God.
Heavenly father, I pray for my enemy(ies) ___________ (fill in the blank). Please bless _______ and help them have a closer relationship with you. Help me think of something nice I can do for ________ to give me a chance to tell them how they made me feel and not say something hurtful in the process. Amen.
Love thine enemy. I really don’t know how you do that. I feel like I have one enemy. I feel like we have given him chance after chance to make things right and he refuses to do that. I do pray about the situation. I have asked God to help me forgive him so I can move on. In no way could I love this man. It is all I can do to stop myself in seeking revenge. I am not that kind of person but I have to admit it makes me smile to think that he is having a lot of problems. That is certainly not loving him. So what does God want us to do when he says that we should love our enemies?
I don’t think most humans are very good at it. I’m not. It takes time, but you have taken the first step in asking God for help. That’s a great first step. We have to trust God to bring justice in the situation because God is the only one who really knows another’s heart. Psalms 25-21-22 says if your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you. Most likely your enemy has food and drink, so I feel prayer is the correct thing to do. Prayer is also an essential need for everybody. You’re doing well!!!
When we were on the phone I believe I said that I did not pray about all of this. A more accurate description is, I do pray about the situation but I don’t pray for him. I am a long way from loving this man! I will try and do the best for me and my family when it comes to this situation. Hopefully, God answers a few prayers and I can get to a better place.
Actually, you seem a lot happier to me than you were a month or two ago, so I think you are getting to a better place. I think it is a lot easier to pray for an enemy when you know that God is heaping burning coals on his head.