They have abandoned me—
the fountain of living water.
And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns
that can hold no water at all!" Jeremiah 2:13
As I look upon my life and the lives of those that I know, I am often in wonder at how we have done exactly this. We expect things, others, this world to fill us. Only to discover that we ourselves have become cracked cisterns that can hold no water.
What if your enemy resides right in your own home? What if that enemy is the one that lays next to you at night? Dietrich Bonhoffer points us to the love of Christ for our enemies. In the New Testament our enemies are those who harbor hostility against us...And who needs our love more than those who are consumed with hatred and are utterly devoid of love?
I have recently been reading the book Love and Respect by Eggerichs. Now I have no doubt that this book has saved, benefited countless marriages, but honestly, I am not a fan. I like to read books that are going to help me understand my Lord better. I like these books because if I can understand His love more, then maybe, I can learn to love more like He loves. I do not like books that take my focus and point it more toward a person or a situation and this is what most "self help" books do. And besides in Love and Respect Eggerich is constantly making a point that you are living with a spouse that is wanting to work with you and has "good will for you". What if you are married to someone who does not have good will toward you? (Now don't go extreme on me! I'm not talking to someone who is in a dangerous situation. The Israelites ran from their bondage in Egypt and sometimes this is what we must do.) Anyways...
What are we supposed to do then?
Bonhoffer lived in a time with true enemies at hand. He points us to Christ and His love for us. ...the more bitter our enemy's hatred, the greater his need of love... Am I asked how this love is to behave? Jesus gives the answer: bless, do good, and pray for your enemies without reserve and without respect of persons... without hypocrisy and with utter sincerity... We are not to imagine that this is to condone evil; such a love proceeds from strength rather than weakness, from truth rather than fear, and therefore it cannot be guilty of the hatred of another. And who is to be the object of such love, if not those whose hearts are stifled with hatred?
Each of us are called to work out our own salvation. We are living this life and we must keep our focus. Christ never said it would be easy, but love is the only way we can keep those bitter roots from taking hold. When we can keep our focus on Christ and His ever present love for us, then maybe we can give that love to others. Maybe we can see their true hearts and instead of taking their sickness personally, we can love Christ enough that we can endure into our own healing path. I cannot abandon my God ever again and I know that if I focus on others my cistern will be cracked and nothing/no one will ever be able to fill it.
Jesus says, "be like Me." We are each called to be His representatives in our own realm of influence. If we are looking to Him for our living water, then hopefully we can then go and be like Him.
