Love your enemies

A drive to a friends house for dinner, the phone rings and suddenly your world is rocked. That’s exactly what happened tonight at 5:30. Our credit card company called just to make sure that it was us who charged over $3,0000 at Saks Fifth Ave. this afternoon. It took a minute just to understand what the man on the other line was saying let alone register the name of the store. A horrified “no! We definitely didn’t charge that today.” The rest of the conversation is somewhat of a blur for me. “Maam, we need to confirm all these charges made for the last couple months……An investigator will be assigned to look into this fraud….only pay the charges you made and we’ll take care of the rest…If I were you I’d look into an indentity theft protection plan….”
For the second time in my life I felt violated. The first happened when someone bashed in the window of our car while I was at the library and stole our radio/cd player…with Oklahoma in it. Tonight someone somewhere had our credit card number and used it against us. You normally feel so small in such a large world but when something like this happens you feel like the spotlight is suddenly on you. Did they know us….how did they get our information….what other things do they know about us? It doesn’t feel safe anymore when someone invades your life in a lawless way.
The thought comes, who are they? Why were they so desperate? Was it just for fun or are they being haunted by a sin that controls their very being? I read this week in Romans 4:7:

“How happy are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered. How happy the man whom the Lord will never charge with sin.”

I was rejoicing all week that my redeemer has wiped the slate of my lawless acts clean. It is another thought to pray that whoever wronged me would also find that same forgiveness. Funny how God’s truths never change. When our radio was stolen out of our car 3 years ago, God gently reminded me then to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”. After processing the event of today and working through the emotions of being hurt by someone I don’t even know, God took me out of my selfish thinking to the person who wronged me. We can love our enemies with the same love that God gave us through his son Jesus because he loved us even while we were still enemies of him. Who are your enemies?