DR Congo. Sri Lanka. Zimbabwe. Afghanistan. Sometimes everywhere you look the world just seems full of conflict.
And even though we know that war isn’t the answer, more often than not it seems that aggression is the world’s go-to response.
Sometimes the simplest commandments are the most difficult to carry out. Jesus was pretty unequivocal about loving your enemies:
'Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.' (Luke 6:35)
Destructive
But how do you love the person who fired the rocket that destroyed your home?
Or arrested your spouse/sibling/child/parent for their political or religious beliefs? Or destroyed your family because of racial differences?
When your enemies are so destructive, how can you forgive them – let alone love them?
Unbelievable though it may seem, inspiring people the world over have learned to do just that in the most terrible of situations. Not that it’s an easy thing to do.
Beatrice Nyiranjuti lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She recently saw her husband shot dead by rebel soldiers, another civilian casualty in the country’s recent conflict.
Beatrice, who was heavily pregnant with her fifth child when a Tearfund team spoke to her, said of her husband’s killers: `I have already forgiven them because they did not know what they did. It’s very difficult but we trust in God.’
Half the deal
Therein lies the rub: Faith without forgiveness – without love – is only half the deal.
Without love, it’s easy to become empty, to become separate from our brothers and sisters.
Isn’t that what Paul meant when he said ‘If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing’ (1 Corinthians 13.2)?
Love is the basis for all Christ’s teaching. And if Christ has enough love for us that he forgave us the unforgiveable, and took on all our wrongdoings for us, then we can have faith that somehow, from somewhere, we will find the means to love each other, and through love, to forgive. And to reach out to those with whom we have seemingly irreconcilable differences.
So even when the headlines are despairing and hopeless, let’s have faith that seeds of God’s love can and will spring up in the darkest times.
Whatever the situation, whatever the dilemma, love is the answer.