Do you have that one person that you really-really don’t like? The one who you pray you don’t have to talk to at the church social? Or the one who hurt you but acts like nothing happened? Basically, do you have someone who you might consider an enemy? Well, God has enemies, too. But these enemies probably aren’t who you think they are.
And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your minds as expressed through your evil deeds, but now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him— if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, without shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant. Colossians 1:21-23
New English Translation
You and I were enemies of God before we were reconciled to Him. Have you ever thought hard about that? I was an enemy of God. I hurt God, I worked against His good plans, and more when I was not following Him. And every time I choose to slip into my old ways I slip into acting as God’s enemy. That puts much more weight onto the significance of my actions. No wonder Ephesians 4:1-3 urges us to live worthily of our calling from God! Beyond that, think about the weight it adds to God’s love.
But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
New English Translation
In Romans 5, Paul teaches us that God loved us while we were sinners. Thinking back to the Colossians verses we read, while we were sinners we were God’s enemy. God loved us so much while we were His enemy that He sent His only son to suffer and die so that we could be in right relationship with God.
When I think about this, I begin to realize that this enemy status was truly a one-sided choice. God never wanted us to be His enemies. He didn’t choose that. However, we chose to be His enemies every time we decided that we were okay with our sin, and that we didn’t need help from God. Every time that we decide that we’re the smartest person we know and that “hidden” sin is okay, or even blatantly obvious sin is okay, we choose to change out status to enemy.
In reality, God always looked at us as His children, even when we were rebellious. Remember the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32)? In this parable Jesus told, the father never viewed his son as an enemy; however, the son decided that his father was an enemy to him, preventing him from living the life he felt was best for him. Yet, when the son realized that what he’d thought was the best life for him was really empty and lonely, he recognized that his father was not his enemy at all. Though the prodigal then felt he was unworthy of his father’s love, since the father never viewed him as an enemy in the first place, the father welcomed his son back with celebrating. See, an enemy holds your past against you and sees you as nothing other than your previous mistakes. A loving father sees you as his child who is still growing.
Another thing to realize is that we can choose to be our own enemy. God never holds our past against us, though He does expect us to turn from our sinful ways and become a new person.
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away—look, what is new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17
As far as the eastern horizon is from the west, so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions from us. Psalm 103:12
New English Translation
So, God never wanted us to hold our past against ourselves. Each time we allow our mistakes and past way of living to define us and make us feel unworthy of walking with God, we choose to be our own enemy. In this scenario we are working with the devil to keep ourselves from living in peaceful unity with God, though this is typically done unintentionally. That raises the question, how do we avoid becoming our own enemy?
The first step is engaging in true repentance, which is the turning from sin. If you are not living in those sins, then how can you feel ashamed? Scripture already informed us that the old us has passed away and the new has come. If we’re not resurrecting the old self, then we can’t be ashamed of something we no longer are.
The second step is to engage in constant and active relationship with God. This means letting God into every area of life, not just the parts that happen at church. Real relationship with God means letting God direct your choices, allowing Him to build personal convictions with you, standing strong in those convictions, and loving God, yourself, and others well. Now, we could go into a deep dive of all the things that walking in relationship with Jesus means, but let me say this: When you’re really in relationship with Jesus, you’ll say “yes” when He says “yes,” “no” when He says “no,” and your contentment in that will help you be kinder to God, yourself, and others.
Now, realize that you are never going to be perfect. Just because you’re going to be kinder does not mean that you won’t ever treat people poorly. However, when you walk closely with God, when those times of poor behavior happen, He’s going to convict you and you’re going to listen much quicker. When you’re willing to listen to and obey God’s conviction, an apology and repentance happen much faster, meaning that you’re going to find much more healing and reconciliation within relationships.
After looking at how we choose to be an enemy, whether to God or ourselves, we have to stop and ask ourselves, have I chosen to be an enemy today? Each day we have the choice to either walk in the new creation that Jesus has helped us become or the old enemy lifestyle. I encourage you to continually converse with God, He will help you know what needs to shift and change. You’re never alone in this. Everyone has things they are still working on, and God is always there helping us work through it.