Love Your Enemies II

Who is my greatest enemy?

This enemy would have to embarrass me continually because embarrassment is one of the most painful things I can endure. I cannot stand embarrassment even-though it seldom happens to me. When it does, I am never ready or never prepared. Embarrassment is an outward glimpse of my depravity and my pride cannot take it. It exposes the secrets without discretion, tact or opinion leaving nothing but blushing and awkward speech in its wake. Because this enemy could embarrass me to no end, it would have to know my darkest secrets. The things no one knows about, this enemy would know. Not only would it know about it, but, through embarrassment, it would reveal these secrets. Inabilities would also tie into the secrets subject. My greatest enemy would have to know my greatest failures and inabilities. Much like the sports world, the Notre Dame fan or the IU fan can continually state the inabilities or failures of Purdue football and basketball. This boils my blood to no end revealing the truth of the matter, but creating an enemy nonetheless.

These were material characteristics as well as immaterial, but mostly material. Now, let us strictly speak of the immaterial. One immaterial thing is affections. My greatest enemy would have to know my affections. It would have to know what I love and what I am passionate for. It would also would know my greatest fears. Why am I scared of"such and such" thing? Because it reveals my true identity and this cannot be exposed. But, my greatest enemy would expose this. The greatest enemy would not necessarily fight me with lies, because lies do not stand in testing. I can believe a lie and that could cause me a great deal of pain, but my greatest enemy is not looking for extreme pain. It wants death. That is exactly what makes it the greatest enemy. Lies do not kill. The absence of truth does.

In review, the Christian might say that it is easy to see a chasm between the two “people.” The friend, or greatest friend, would be Jesus. The enemy, or greatest enemy would be Satan. However, several philosophers and theologians have mentioned in the past that if one states that God and Satan are in a cosmic stalwart, then there must be a greater being that determines which is God and which is Satan. This cannot be true. Therefore, it is God who is the creator of all things and sin is a result, somehow, of creation, but not the Creator. The chasm of enemy and friend is not so much in the cosmos, but in creation. It is much closer to home...