http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPRX2iDNSHw
Okay, well, it’s not the best clip, but I wanted you to at least hear the dialogue.
The human in this conversation, Harold Attinger (as played by Kelsey Grammar) makes an alliance with a Neutral Transformer, bounty hunter Lockdown (a Neutral is neither an Autobot or a Decepticon, if you don’t know your Transformers). They key phrase I wanted you to hear is what Attinger tells Lockdown, rather matter-of-factly:
On this planet we have a saying…the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Now, that’s a profound statement–it implies hatred and revenge, crossing over into enemy lines to usurp revenge upon those we hate most by allying ourselves with our enemy’s foe. It’s a dastardly thing, to be sure, because it’s double-crossing–and in the case of Transformers: Age of Extinction, it’s treason: consulting with the enemy.
Scripture tells us we only have one enemy, and that is the Devil and his demonic forces. We are to have no enemies in people; we are to love them (John 13:34), and we are to love our enemies as we love ourselves (Leviticus 19:18). God is very clear that we are to love one another and turn the other cheek, as well as give up our cloak unto the man who has none. He is a God who desires His people to live in peace, but being sinners, we are constantly at each others’ throats.
Attinger, as we saw, really does not care about his enemy–he blatantly rebukes the order in Matthew 5:44, which states, “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
This can be tough, especially when we think the other person deserves it. But it is simply something we must do. Jesus prayed for His enemies even in death, He asked God the Father to forgive us, for we don’t know what we were doing (Luke 23:24). Scripture also states the Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, continually interceding for us–including his enemies (Romans 8:34).
We are called to be like Christ (1 Peter 2:21, 1 John 2:6). Christ loves His enemies, all of them, no matter how foul or disgusting or hate-filled they are. He desires them to be one with Him, and would go to the cross a thousand times more for the greatest of sinners. Since we are called to be like Christ, it is only fair we follow His example, and attempt to do what He did.
Pray for those enemies; that guy who stole your parking spot, or the girl who makes jokes at your in math. Pray for those in the Middle East, the ISIS group who are so lost without Jesus, as well as those who are being persecuted and killed. Whenever you feel that desire to say wicked things about another person, first bless them, for there is power in the words. What we say and how we act determines how others perceive us, as Luke 6:45 states,
A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
We want to do good. We want to be like Jesus, so it’s time to start praying for our enemies, and at least attempting to love them like Jesus would. It will be hard, and feel strange, and the world will mock you and think you’re crazy, but Jesus calls us to it.
That should be motivation enough.
