Why Should You Conquer Your Enemies?
Having enemies is one of the facts of life. If you do not have an enemy it is possible that you are living an abnormal life. Jesus had enemies. And he said that if we follow him we also would have enemies. We cannot be unlike him if we follow him.
But having too many enemies is not good for any of us. Nor is it necessary. We can turn some of these enemies into friends. By turning them into friends we have conquered them. So you need to conquer your enemies because having too many of them would indeed make your life unnecessarily miserable.
Enemies Who Will Always Remain Enemies
However there are enemies whom we can never turn into friends. They will always remain enemies. Satan and his demons will always remain our enemies. Fortunately Jesus has already conquered them by his cross. We only need to gather the spoils from them.
The same applies to the group or class of human beings who are openly agents of Satan and his demons. In the time of Jesus these were the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the leaders of the Jewish nation. Jesus never befriended these classes of human beings. He pronounced woes upon them. But he was always kind to individuals who belonged to these groups but who believed in him, like Nicodemus who was a Pharisee and Joseph of Arimathea who was a Jewish leader.
Following Jesus we can never befriend classes or groups of human beings who are openly also enemies of Jesus. In our present time this would refer to cults or organizations whose sworn objective is to destroy the institutions of genuine Christianity, like the worshipers of Satan. But we need to be kind to individual persons in these groups who are sincerely seeking for the truth.
How To Conquer Your Enemies Through Kindness
Having clarified who are the enemies whom you should not conquer through kindness, there are still plenty of enemies whom you can conquer through kindness: the neighbors who seem to always annoy you by throwing their garbage near your lot, the classmate who always depends on you for help in his homework, the relative who meddles in your family affairs, etc. These are the enemies whom you can win over by kindness.
Think Well of Them
There is always some good thing you can think that they have. Maybe it is their desire to be clean, to excel in their studies, to help sincerely. Whatever it is think well of them, find something good that they have to think of.
Speak Well of Them to Others
Nothing destroys friendship soonest than speaking evil of them in front of others. This is backbiting. But if you speak well of them before other people, they will later change their attitude towards you and they will also be kind to you.
Do Good to Them
If you do good to your enemies they will sooner or later reciprocate. I still remember the time I gave a five cent coin to a classmate whom I considered to be a possible enemy. As a result of my giving him this coin we became friends for life.
When I was taking up graduate studies a classmate of mine became an enemy because I did not obey his suggestion not to buy an electronic calculator. He wanted to do mathematical calculations by solving them on paper, not by using any machine, and he wanted me to do just like him. From the time I bought a calculator he always avoided me and never talked to me. But I continued doing good to him.
Pray for Them
Last but most important of all, pray for your enemies. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of, said Lord Tennyson. When you pray for your enemies you will draw them nearer to the Spirit who unites us all. In due time this Spirit will make us one in our thinking and working. This is what happened with Stephen who prayed for his persecutor Saul in the story we read in the Acts of the Apostles. Saul later continued the work that Stephen left off because of this death. I can only imagine that when Saul who later was renamed Paul entered heaven Stephen was there to welcome him with a very big smile on his face, his murder by Saul forgotten forever.
You can conquer your enemies through kindness by thinking well of them, speaking well about them, doing good to them, and most especially by praying for them.
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