“1 After five days Ananias the high priest came down with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus. These men presented their case against Paul to the governor. 2 When he was called in, Tertullus began to accuse him and said: ‘Since we enjoy great peace because of you, and reforms are taking place for the benefit of this nation by your foresight, 3 we acknowledge this in every way and everywhere, most excellent Felix, with utmost gratitude. 4 However, so that I will not burden you any further, I beg you in your graciousness to give us a brief hearing. 5 For we have found this man to be a plague, an agitator among all the Jews throughout the Roman world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes! 6 He even tried to desecrate the temple, so we apprehended him [and wanted to judge him according to our law. 7 But Lysias the commander came and took him from our hands with great force, 8 commanding his accusers to come to you.] By examining him yourself you will be able to discern all these things we are accusing him of.’ 9 The Jews also joined in the attack, alleging that these things were so.”

Acts 24:1-9

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Have you ever been ganged up on? Had a group of peope try to defame you? Their self-justified rationaille pointing them to make audacious claims about you? When people have made a decision to not like you, to seek to tear you down, so that they can feel better about themselves, they will do and say just about anything. People who are set on destroying someone else are bent, warped in their hearts and minds. There is no getting through to them while they have their mind set on their sinful behavior. 

Some of Paul’s accusers were so eager to see him dead that they had vowed not to eat or drink anything until they had killed him. They were bent on self-harm as an option for motivation to see him done in. People who seek to harm you are also bent on self-harm, a strangulation of their heart & their very humanity. These violent hearts are dark & twisted, imagining the harming of another person will help bring fulfillment to their souls. But this type of lashing out never benefits anyone, and never brings true fulfillment to the one who wishes harm. It just draws you deeper, drags you lower, and makes you stoop to new lows so you can see more pain inflicted. It is a sickness of the soul that causes one person to seek to harm another, to obsess over their downfall. This is pride, and the territory of the devil. 

As Christians, we need only rely on the truth. We speak the truth, we approach those who would harm us with love, and maybe even a dose of pity for their lost state. We can be sickened by what is happening within their heart, because it really is very sad, but we don’t need to answer their foolishness with the same kind of foolishness (Proverbs 26:4) instead we answer because of their foolishness (Proverbs 26:5) and seek the path of truth, even for them. We should desire for them what is contrary to the desire our fleshly self probably wants. We should desire that they be reconciled to God rather than brought low like they desire for us. We need to heap kindness on them (Proverbs 25:21-22) so that they cannot deny it, or shake the effects of the encounter. Angry people expect an angry response, and as followers of Jesus Christ, we cannot give in to that temptation. 

Trust that God has something better to accomplish in you and through you, even in the face of your perceived enemies. He should be glorified in all of our decisions, the attitudes of our heart and in the actual responses we give to those who would be set against us within their flesh. We must answer according to the Spirit if we intend to GoLove people as we have been loved. We must also remember that we were once lost, dead in our sin and walking a similar path when God found us. We were His enemies, and He sought reconciliation with us. That is the blessing of grace for us, and that is the rhythm we should live in as we continue to interact with people who do not yet know Christ. Our greatest joy may be seeing our ‘enemies’ become our brothers and sisters, adopted through the blood of the Lamb.