Love's Work is Never Done


‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 
Luke 6:27-28

This month marks the two year anniversary of The Candid Corinthian. I am so grateful to God for leading me on this journey and for allowing me to interact with many different people through my writing.

This milestone has prompted me to consider some of the major themes that have emerged from my past two years of blogging. I’ve found that one of my favorite topics to wrestle with is prayer. Specifically, I like to consider the nature of intercessory prayer.

I see prayer as a way of connecting with others, of entering their world and accompanying them on their journeys--both the trying and triumphant ones. Prayer is a means of empathizing and identifying with them, while seeking unity with their spirit before God.

I find opportunities for engaging in this type of prayer all around me: in the faces of sick relatives, in the tears of grieving church family members, and in outcry over painful issues impacting my community. Offering intercessory prayer for the people God has put in my life can be complex and time-consuming, but it isn’t all that difficult. I am praying for the people to whom my heart inclines anyway, and the more I pray for them, the more invested I become in their well-being.

But what happens when such a pre-existing attachment doesn't exist?

Several months ago, I was on the receiving end of some very negative criticism from someone online that I didn't know. My normal reaction in situations like this (once I’ve finished stewing, of course) is to brush the negativity off and endeavor to put it and the person behind it out of my mind. But this time was different. In my spirit, I sensed this person could be living in a place of pain or stress, which prompted them to lash out through the seeming anonymity of online discourse. As a result, I felt led to pray for them with the same empathy and intentionality that I would for a suffering friend or relative.

Since then, the Spirit has encouraged me to practice this type of prayer more often. But it was an interesting time to receive this lesson, for not long afterwards, my attention was captured by volatile events on the US national stage. It seems that everywhere I turned--both in person and on social media--I saw lively and often harsh conversations ignite. Often, both sides of the debate invoked faith and morality in service of their ideas. Having many strong opinions of my own, I was far from immune from the debates. But once again, God encouraged me to dig deep in prayer and to look behind the walls of mass public opinion to the individuals on each side: their pain, their hope, and their desires. In particular, I felt compelled to pray for those whose opinion differed from mine. The goal was not to ask God to change their minds. Instead, it was for me to understand them better and to see the part of them that is God-breathed and God-adored.

Prayer as a means of dealing with conflict is a time-honored concept. For centuries, the prayers of believers have gone up on behalf of people whose offenses against them far surpassed mere differences of opinion. They have prayed for captors, persecutors, and true enemies, in a manner becoming followers of the One who forgave the very people that crucified Him.

They prayed because they understood a simple but powerful fact: love’s work is never done. We may manage to exercise mutual respect, patience, and agreement in prayer with other believers in our own community, but that is only part of the job. The other part is found in the Lord’s commandment to  “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” (Luke 6:27-28) Love is meant to be a distinguishing behavior for believers.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” (Luke 6:32)

If we wade into the fray of harsh and disrespectful language and behavior toward the people we dislike and disagree with, we look just like the rest of the world. Even if we follow God’s command to love and pray for people, but only insofar as it applies to the ones we naturally like, we are still no different from the rest of the world. But the world doesn't need more of itself.

Christ’s love is transformative, but only when the members of His body, the Church, act upon it. Prayer is one of the most basic, yet effective ways of taking action. By extending our prayers over all people, we embody our Christly heritage and mirror the beauty of His character to a love-starved world.

The Lord has loved each of us with an everlasting love, despite the multitude of our failings. May He grant us the the grace to mimic that love to all people at all times. Amen.

Comments

  1. I see prayer as a way of connecting with others, of entering their world and accompanying them on their journeys--Loved this statement. What a privilege that God allows us to enter someone else’s journey with prayer. Such a thoughtful piece, thank you for sharing it.

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    1. Amen! I agree that it is a great privilege. Thank you for reading, Yvonne.

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  2. A great reminder of how easy it is to slip into moaning about others I disagree with rather than bleesing them and paying for them - Lord please forgive me.

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    1. I definitely struggle with that same thing. God is working on my heart to pray, but I can't even do that without his help.
      Have a blessed day!

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  3. "Prayer as a means of dealing with conflict is a time-honored concept. " We are working through 40 Days of Prayer with Rick Warren at my church. And it's so cool the way God weaves His teaching in our lives. Your post reinforces the lessons of the study too. Great post! So important today!

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    1. Thank you for sharing that about your study, Nancy. I also love seeing how God makes themes like this appear and reappear during certain seasons in our lives.

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  4. Hey Chloe,

    Enjoyed visiting today and reading your post. I think we underestimate the power of prayer to move mountains, change us and others. And we forget what love can do. So both coupled together...sheer power!

    This is a great thought, "Christ’s love is transformative, but only when the members of His body, the Church, act upon it. Prayer is one of the most basic, yet effective ways of taking action." Amen!

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    1. Thank you for your comment. Yes! It's easy to walk around feeling like everything, including conflict resolution, is dependent on our own abilities. But when our actions are covered in prayer and love, we truly see what God can accomplish through us.

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  5. In our small group last week our topic was stewardship but it went beyond just money. The questions went into prayer and how much time we spend on praying for others needs as well as praying for our enemies. Your post reminded me of that again today. We are called to be so much more and to pray deeply every day. Thank you for this reminder!

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    1. Laurie, thank you for commenting. I love hearing how the prayer theme has been at work in your life. It is definitely something I feel led to invest more time in. Blessings!

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  6. Thanks for this post. In such a harsh political climate it is refreshing to hear the call for unity around the cross instead of division over the flag. I've been distancing myself from politics to avoid the bottomless pit, but I can pray for God to intervene and bring wisdom. Great reminder.

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    1. "Unity around the cross instead of division over the flag." That is a great phrase. Yes, I find myself exhausted by the political climate, but I take comfort in giving it up to the Father's hands. Thank you for reading!

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  7. Wow. This is convicting and enlightening and full of truth. I'm bookmarking this! Sharing this! Thank you.

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    1. Thank you for reading and sharing, Stephanie. I hope you have a blessed weekend!

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  8. "Prayer is the most basic, yet effective ways of taking action." This reminds me of Leonard Ravenhill's quote in his book Why Revival Tarries; "no man is greater than his prayer life." Thank you for this reminder to simply pray! Amen

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    1. I will need to look into that book, it sounds interesting. Thank you for commenting!

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  9. Praying for those who hurt us is so important, it can change our hearts, but it can also do more for them than we realise. Great post!

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    1. Yes! I love that prayer impacts both us and the people we pray for. Thank you for reading. Have a blessed weekend.

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  10. What a loving and thoughtful post! Thank you for sharing your thoughts on extending our prayers to this realm - the harsh conversations in social media. I appreciated your line: "As a result, I felt led to pray for them with the same empathy and intentionality that I would for a suffering friend or relative." I am praying even now to carry this response with me. Bless you!

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    1. I appreciate your response. This type of prayer is definitely something I'm striving to incorporate in my life more now, even though I know I won't always succeed. What a blessing that we are not left to our good intentions alone, but instead have the Spirit working in us. Have a blessed day!

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  11. Nicely done. I appreciate your allowing God to work on your heart, and sharing that with us. I certainly need to love and pray more for those whoay look at life differently than me.

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    1. Thanks for reading, Bryan. It's been a blessing to share this part of my faith journey, because it's a particular struggle for me and it helps to discuss it and know there are other pilgrims dealing with the same issue. Blessings!

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