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Who is my enemy?

Been thinking some more about enemies following Bishop Nikolai's prayer from yesterday.  Who is my enemy?

Someone I find it hard to get on with?  We all know that just because someone is 'not my kind of person' that doesn't mean they're a bad person.

Someone who criticises me?  My more task-focused friends tell me that criticism can be a good thing as it helps us to know how we can improve.  I accept this rationally, while emotionally I find it hard to embrace criticism as a good thing!

Someone who opposes me?  But we have a political system based on opposing parties who hold each other to account.  Opponents help each other to think their views through with rigour.  Occasionally, an MP crosses the floor, convinced that it is actually their opponent who has got it right.  Opponents can disagree while respecting each other.

Someone who hates me?  Some of us care a lot what others think of us.  I wish I cared less.  Can it ever be a good thing to be hated?  Jesus once said 'Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man' (Luke 6:22).  

Someone who wants me dead?  Why would I pray to God for this kind of enemy?  Why would I ask God to bless them?  It makes no sense.  Love your enemy.

Who is my enemy?  My neighbour is the one I love; my enemy is the one I hate.  If I love my enemy, she is no longer my enemy, but my neighbour.  So perhaps 'love your enemy', rather than being deeply offensive, is in fact deeply subversive.  

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