Loving our enemies, righteousness, prayers, and a simple life define who we are as Christians. Too many of us think life is just fine until a storm hits where we need to call out to Christ to help us walk across those slippery rocks and stormy waters. It is in those times when I have found the cost of being a disciple of Christ to be hard and sometimes, frustrating. Time and again, when I give those problems to Christ, He has brought me to the other side of those stormy waters. It may not be in my time, but He has taken my hand and said, “Fear not for I am with you.”
On the Sermon on the Mount, Christians are told to “love their enemies.” By my way of thinking, our enemies curse us, hate us for standing up for the righteous, humiliate us for our weaknesses, persecute us for being different, are hostile to us for refusing to follow the crowd, and insult us with mocking words and even threats. Christ meant that our enemies are those who are unresponsive to our love, who forgive us for nothing despite our forgiveness of them, and who thwart our love with hatred and our service with derision. We ask for nothing in return, but those who seek to destroy us have one mantra, hate. “Love your enemies” does not make a difference between one enemy or another; they all need our love.
Our answers to this mantra of hate should be to bless those who persecute us. Do good to those who find fault in everything we do. Pray for all who find negativity in everything about their lives and who seek us out for they need to find a more pleasant life for themselves. We need to be earnest in our prayers for these types of people because they need peace and love to penetrate their souls. Just as Christ’s love was perfected by dying on the cross, so we are blessed by suffering in the fellowship of that same cross.
Although many people want recognition for their good deeds, Christians need to hide their righteous acts. We are to be the light of the world, but our discipleship needs to be hidden even from ourselves so that we do not become prideful and conceited in our own abilities. Christ lives in us when we find ourselves in Him and His brethren. There are people today who seem to thrive on letting others know how much money they give to organizations or how horrific a natural disaster is but do nothing to help the truly downtrodden. Some rely on false news reports rather than trusting in scientific truths; they would rather push false information than stand up for what all of us should be doing to protect ourselves and our loved ones during this horrific,world pandemic. I can only imagine how God must be crying as His children make such awful choices. In His time, He will make all things new.
When we pray, we need to show much confidence and much joy in our decisions. It does not matter what form of prayers we use or how long our prayers are. What matters is the faith we show God and how that faith touches His heart. After all, He knew us in our mother’s wombs before we had a human form. Genuine prayer is never about our good deeds, but it should always be the prayers of a child to His Father. Prayer is the antithesis of self-display. It’s purpose is not to affect the world but to address God alone.
In seeking to be a true disciple of Christ, we cannot allow anything to come between ourselves and Christ. Our eyes should remain on Christ alone where His light shines through the darkness of the world. Our worldly possessions tend to turn us away from Christ; they are meant to be used, not collected. Where our hearts are is where our treasures will be. If we treasure the things of the world, our heart will center on them, not Christ. If we treasure our relationship with Christ, our hearts will be filled with His love and grace. When we seek the kingdom of God first, all things will be added to us in His time. We need not be anxious over our needs because Christ knows our every need. Neither are we to judge others because judgment belongs to God. The true disciple of Christ looks on other men as forgiven sinners who owe their lives to the love of God. It is in the simpleness of our lives that we find the love of the Good Shepherd, who searches for the one lamb who is lost in the hills while the remaining herd grazes in the fields.
Where do we hear Christ’s call to follow Him today? We hear it in the Word and when we receive Holy Sacrament. We hear His call in our hearts as we allow His light to shine through our words, deeds, and actions. We become true disciples when what we say and do is the basis for a loving and forgiving life and when we pray like children to our Heavenly Father. To live in our world with God means to live in the world at the same time as we remain in the Body of Christ, in the Church, and in our worship of the Living Son of God. To be “Christ with flesh on,” we must strive to be “imitators of God” as His beloved children.
We are to love our enemies, no matter what they do to us. We must pray for all but in particular, our enemies so that they will see Christ’s light as a beacon of love and hope in our darkened world. In our righteousness and in our prayers, how we do things for others and how we pray to God should remain hidden, especially to ourselves so that we do not become prideful and conceited. All things will be added unto us when we seek the kingdom of God first. In so doing, we become “Christ with flesh on,” “God imitators.” To be a disciple of Christ is costly, but we will be granted a new life in the kingdom of God.
The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1937
Anna Hartt
