• Topic > Relationships > Enemies >

    Are you trying to run the other way?

    Faced with growing stress and mounting troubles, a typical response is to try and run the other way. Today we’ll take a closer look at Psalm 55, which describes David’s wish to escape his problems. Is that where you are?

    It’s All About The Love

    I saw a sign in front of a church that seems to me to be a great motto for relationships: Receive love. Give love. Repeat.

    Changing Enemies Into Friends

    During the US Civil War, hatred became entrenched between the North and South. In one instance, President Abraham Lincoln was criticized for speaking of benevolent treatment for the Southern rebels. The critic reminded Lincoln that there was a war going on, the Confederates were the enemy, and they should be destroyed. But Lincoln wisely responded, “I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.”

    Lincoln’s comment is insightful.

    Enemy Deceptions

    Written in the sixth-century bc by Chinese general Sun Tzu, The Art of War has been a guide for military thinking for centuries. But it has also been used by men and women in a wide variety of other arenas, including leadership, management, business, politics, and sports. What Sun Tzu wrote about military warfare can help followers of Christ to understand the tactics of our spiritual enemy:

    Self-Destructive Hatred

    George Washington Carver (1864–1943) overcame terrible racial prejudice to establish himself as a renowned American educator. Spurning the temptation to give in to bitterness for the way he was treated, Carver wisely wrote, “Hate within will eventually destroy the hater.”