People always want to know God’s will for their lives, but He has revealed it. Love others. Love your enemies. If someone hates you, do good to them. Bless those who are saying mean things about you. Pray for those who mistreat you. You don’t fight back. You take the hit and don’t hide from another. If someone is taking from you, give to them.

What happens when you do those things? Why are those the right responses?

The person is thrown off. You take away the fun of it if they can’t get you to react. If it doesn’t hurt you or upset you, they don’t get a reward from it. They can be convicted by your reaction, by your choice to love them. They can be saved through your prayers and display of love.

On your end, it is taking away the sting to see the blessing instead of the curse. It’s turning what the enemy meant for evil into good. It heals your heart to forgive and keep away bitterness. Love feels a whole lot better than hate. The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God, James wisely points out. We’re only hurting ourselves being upset. Love covers a multitude of sins.

And, ultimately, the prize is turning an enemy into a friend, and more than a friend, a beloved brother in Christ. That’s the way to conquer an enemy.

We’re to be like Jesus, and God is merciful, even to you.

Before you bring someone else to God with a complaint, ask God to search you and show you where you need correcting, what you are blind to in yourself.

I know for myself that I am very aware that the reason I can spot certain things in the lives of others is that I have been there and done that.

If you are doing good to others, no matter what they are doing to you, then you are producing good fruit. You’ll only be able to sustain that kind of selfless love through Christ and the love of God poured through you by the Spirit given.

Fill your heart and mind with God’s word through the Spirit, and His love and truth will be what comes out.