Most of us don't have a clue what Jesus meant by ENEMY when he said we should love them. Does that mean that I tolerate the neighbor whose dog does his business on my lawn? Does that mean that I don't curse the lady who just cut me off in traffic while yapping on her cell phone? Do I even know what an ENEMY is? No one has threatened to kill me lately. No one has burned my home, tortured a family member, or sold me as a slave. So it may not be too difficult for me to say that I love and forgive that inconsiderate neighbor. But how would I react to REAL opposition?
As
the middle-aged daughter of a Dutch watchmaker, Corrie ten Boom had spent most
of her early life like most of us -- not knowing what the darkest hatred really
looked like...until the Nazi invasion and occupation of the Netherlands. At that
moment this Christian family was faced with the dilemma -- do we just mind our
own business and the Nazis will leave us alone...or do we put our necks on the
line in order to protect and provide for the Jewish members of our community?
They chose the latter. And they did so with great success but not without
consequence. While the Nazis never discovered the secret hiding room for
protection of many Jews when they raided the ten Boom home in February of 1944,
they arrested the whole family and others working with the ten Booms in the Netherlands
underground. Corrie's father soon died in prison from his injuries, sickness,
and neglect. After months of solitary confinement, Corrie, along with her
sister Betsie, was transferred to work in a concentration camp. Through
conversations there, she discovered the identity of the man from her community
who had betrayed her family and their work by delivering them into the hands of
the Nazis. With anger burning against this Jan Vogel for days, she asked her
sister Betsie, "Don't you feel anything about Jan Vogel? Doesn't it bother
you?" Her response stunned Corrie. "Oh yes, Corrie! Terribly! I've felt for him
ever since I knew -- and pray for him whenever his name comes into my mind. How
dreadful he must be suffering!"
It
did not come as easy for Corrie as it seemed to come for Betsie, but she too
found forgiveness in her heart for this traitor and sought God's blessings for
him in prayer. That's the love for an enemy to which Jesus calls us...love for
those who have harmed us...against the strongest inclinations of my will. And
that's why I must pray as He did, "Not my will but Thine."
To His Glory,
Caleb
