In business, leadership is often charged with winning. We want to win the account, win the deal, win the quarter, win the best staff, win at products, win at service. This is why Jesus’ teaching for leaders to “love your enemies” is tremendously challenging. It goes against what most often brings us success in life and work, which is embracing like-mindedness and unity. Connecting to people who agree with us and desire the same results as we do, in the same manner, are most able to help us accomplish our goals.
Jesus’ full instruction on this is toward the beginning of His “Sermon on the Mount”. In Matthew 5:43-48 He teaches, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is describing the Kingdom of Heaven. The picture He paints is that God’s Kingdom will not be like the earth, with its various injustices, sin, and hatred. Consequently, those who follow Christ should live today knowing the Kingdom to which they belong and will go to one day. We should, then, live to a higher standard, and not become embroiled in our present world’s flawed sense of right and wrong. “Love your enemies” is among Jesus’ instructions for those who would follow Him and live according to His commands. How does a man truly love his enemies?
Overlook offense. In today’s culture people are constantly offended. We’re enraged by others’ viewpoints, politics, beliefs, words and actions. To offend, or be thought of as intolerant, is among the worst things you can be accused of. A godly man, though, is not easily offended. We realize that we live in a sinful world, and that Jesus told us we would be offensive to others, even hated because of our belief in Christ. When someone offends you, the best and first response should be to simply overlook it. Proverbs 19:11 teaches, “Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.”
To overlook something is to value the relationship, the person, and their development, above your own feelings or thoughts on the matter. To be offended is to be in pursuit of a goal or value, and stopped in your progress by an emotional reaction. Leaders who are offended rarely accomplish anything of merit—they’re too wrapped up in their emotions to move forward. Sometimes offense occurs when someone betrays a key value or does something immoral. Those actions might result in discipline. But most often, offense occurs when someone has a differing opinion, or says something in an unkind way, or puts their own emotional reaction ahead of how others might respond. In these cases, a great leader can choose to simply overlook it and move on.
Forgive. When someone wrongs another, we might have a sense that justice must be done. A bad deed must be punished, and guilt should be established. It takes a confident and godly leader to be the victim of another, and simply forgive them and move on. Ephesians 4:32 sets the bar: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” When we forgive, we look to the example of Christ, Who not only forgives, but paid the penalty for our sin for us on the cross. The idea here behind forgiveness is that the person doing the forgiving is not necessarily the person who did anything wrong—Jesus didn’t do anything that needed forgiving, yet He extends forgiveness to all.
Just as a leader might overlook offense, he may also forgive. The key to real forgiveness is that it is not dependent on the other party feeling sorry, or even asking to be forgiven. Forgiveness is not negotiated or traded. Forgiveness is granted. To forgive, a leader places value on restoring the relationship over his sense of justice. Know too that forgiveness is a relational action. There may be still be consequences of someone’s deeds that must be dealt with, but forgiveness can be granted regardless because God calls us to separate our relationships with others from our actions toward each other. Look again at the cross, and Christ Who forgave, despite the action of those who killed Him.
Serve others’ needs. You’ll never argue an enemy into a relationship. Instead, Jesus encourages us to respond to others by serving them. To your enemy, ask, what need might I meet for them? Jesus teaches in Luke 6:27-28, “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” The call to bless and pray for our enemies is hard to live-out. It requires us to engage kindly those who dislike us. The tendency of a person when facing their enemy in our culture is to simply retreat—stay away from them.
Jesus explains this further, saying, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” Luke 6:32-36. Being a good leader means responding to others with goodness, regardless of how they treat you. And Jesus says for those who treat you badly, be especially good to them.
Finally, fight (spiritually). Okay, what if none of that solves the issue? What if overlooking the offense goes on and on, and forgiveness is met with continued sin? And what if opportunities to serve are rebuffed? In today’s world it’s entirely possible that every effort you make to truly love your enemy results in continued hatred toward you and toward Christ. In that case, fight. But there’s a caveat. Your fight is not physical or personal, but spiritual. Cultural relationships are not a military campaign. It is not our role as Christ-centered leaders to have victory over our enemies. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 confirms this: “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.”
How does a Christ-centered leader fight their enemies? God’s Word is clear that our focus is on Christ and being obedient to His commands, regardless of what our enemies might be doing. So we continue to overlook offense, forgive, and serve them. A spiritual battle, as the Apostle Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 10, will only be won by fighting with spiritual weapons. 1 John 5:4-5 says, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” We fight spiritually when we remain faithful to God. That is, we are obedient to His commands, we go about His work in the world, and we pray, asking Him to intervene on our behalf.
Cover photo: Adobe Firefly AI
Leaders by nature want to win. They want to win the account, win the deal, win the quarter, win the best staff, win at products, win at service. This is why Jesus’ teaching for leaders to “love your enemies” is tremendously challenging.