Based on the headline, you may be thinking, “What enemies, Scott? I do not have any enemies.”
That is too bad. As weird as it may sound, YOU SHOULD.
Winston Churchill once said,
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
There was a time in my life when I did not want to put any bumper stickers on my car. I was concerned that my beliefs might offend some people. What I have since learned is that:
1 – most people do not care what you believe, and;
2 – the rest can have a different opinion than mine. It is OK.
What matters is that I no longer am afraid to stand for my beliefs. I am no longer willing to back down from anyone who has a dissenting view. I say what I mean, and I mean what I say. I do my best to state facts, and to make my views known in love, not to anger the other person.
If you are still not sure about this concept, allow me to ask you something: if someone came up to your spouse, child, or grandchild and slapped them, what would you do?
Hopefully you would defend them – immediately.
Hopefully you would NOT think, “Well, I do not want to make an enemy, so I better just do nothing.”
I pray that you would choose Option 1 above. If you truly would choose Option 2, I have some unsolicited advice for you:
Get a backbone; insert it, and; STAND UP for crying out loud.
I know that some people of Faith have an issue with confrontation – especially if it might lead to another person’s getting upset with them. If that is you, may I remind (or inform) you that, in the Bible, Jesus himself went off on the money changers in the Temple. Feel free to call it Righteous Indignation. The point is that he was willing to stand up and defend His Father, by defending His place of worship.
I know that, if someone came after my wife or child, I would be all over them in a heartbeat – even if that became my last heartbeat. I am here to protect them, not merely to sit by and be concerned about making an enemy.
One last thought for everyone, but especially to people of Faith. We are told to, “Love your enemies.” That is true. We are to love the person – but NOT their actions.
Never go out of your way to make an enemy, but be willing to stand up and defend your God, your Family, and your Country – as well as your beliefs – because, as someone once said,
“The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing.”