December 7, 2020 – Click here to listen
We all know someone, or are related to someone guilty of having an “enemies list”. In fact many reading this have one. The people on that list are people who have wronged us, (at least in our mind). They are “blacklisted” and are at the very least doomed to remain “unblessed” by our presence as punishment for wronging us. They are considered persona non grata in our home or elsewhere. We try to avoid them and if an encounter is made we deliberately and haughtily turn our backs on them.
If eye contact is unavoidable, we glare at them and make it known how we feel with our “burning” hate-filled eyes. If we are in a position whereby we simply have to talk to them, it is short and terse and as unfriendly as we can muster.
This does not go unnoticed by the other party who generally reciprocates. Both parties have their pride and it must be maintained at all costs. So we stubbornly “dig in”. As time goes on an intense mutual dislike, disdain and even hatred is formed,
(Sound familiar?)
When you think about it, this type of behavior can only come from satan.
God wants no part of it. If it is born from satan and serves satan’s purpose, we can be assured that it will hurt “us”, (often far more than the other person). It accomplishes nothing positive. In fact it is totally evil and is black sin. It achieves satan’s diabolical goal of ruining our relationship with God, and eliminating any hope of our having a positive Christian witness to the world; not to mention alienating us from family and/or former friends.
It is a self-destructive path, but it seems it is one that is often taken. Indeed many families have been destroyed by this type of thinking and in fact family feuds that last for generations have begun in such a manner. Lifelong friendships have been ended, often by some offhand and even unintentional remark that damages our precious pride and gets blown out of proportion. It continues to escalate and both sides stubbornly harden their respective stances until it reaches a point of “irreconcilable difference”. Our pride may be intact, but the Bible states that too much pride sets us up for the fall that always accompanies sin. And we should make no mistake about it this behavior is sin.
God does not want us to maintain an enemies list. He is all about love and not hate. He wants us to be humble, not prideful. He wants us to forgive others as he has gracefully forgiven us. He wants us to have friends not enemies. God repeatedly warns us about the self-destructive effects of too much pride combined with a non-forgiving spirit.
Alas as with many things in the Bible, we willfully ignore its sound advice and satan wins the battle and we slide down the slippery slope to self-destruction. If you have a blacklist, consider destroying it before it destroys YOU!
Proverbs 14:12
There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way of death.