BLESSING THOSE WHO CURSE YOU

Of the things I am learning to put into practice, at the top of the list is learning from the Master: How to bless those who curse me.

I’ve had some experience being cursed and if you have spent anytime in the church (small ‘c’) you have as well.

What does it mean to bless those who curse you?

It means to will the good of another under the invocation of God.

Whew…that’s a mouthful! To will the good of another. Stop right there.

I have just uncovered my first problem. I’m not sure I want to do that.

God, they have hurt me so deeply. Friends who claim to be friends who turn on you, spread lies, speak half truths, stab you in the back and then blame you for bleeding all over their carpet. To will their good??

Would it be a good thing to will someone else’s good? Would it even be safe to do that? Yes, IF, I do so under the invocation of God. In other words, calling on God to do for me what I cannot do myself. This is invocation.

And because the Lord is my Shepherd, He will make sure I am cared for.

So, can I learn to do this as a disciple of Jesus? The good news is yes.

First-I have to be one who is not thrown off by being cursed.

This involves not a Pharisaic approach to obedience but an inner spiritual transformation. Where I become the kind of person who isn’t bothered by being cursed because I am becoming the kind of person who doesn’t have to get what they want. I am no longer into protecting me. To do this, I must engage in disciplines that lead to a calmness of soul. Perhaps blocking out some time in my day over a significant period of time to be quiet. To listen to God speak. To empty myself of this desire to defend, give slap for slap and discover that just because someone hurt me doesn’t mean I have to run out and hurt them back.

Second-It requires understanding their situation and condition. These people who curse others, especially when they can so seemingly easily curse a friend, are the kind of people who NEED a blessing. They certainly are not going to benefit from me cursing them back. They too are human beings whom God caused to come into existence. How we see other people is a major component as to how we treat other people.

Third-train yourself under God to ask Him to give them good things.

Am I willing to ASK God to give them good things. This is absolutely necessary because it allows me to turn loose of the agonizing pressure of controlling or being responsible for their lives.

I can do this when I realize it is much preferable to being the kind of person who curses others. I have to look no further than the kind of lives people live who routinely curse, criticize and gossip. Frankly, they really are miserable people that need a blessing. They don’t need more cursing.

Besides, it will be a revelation to them and confuse them-they won’t know what to do with that kind of response. You will be engaging in actions as a disciple of Jesus that completely changes the makeup of the relationships.

By our lives we actually switch things around and these, who are so in need of a blessing, will be drawn into a different kind of world…The Kingdom Among Us. And then the Kingdom of the Heavens they are so antagonistic towards, will be unleashed into their lives and God will change them too. If they don’t want to change, we learn to trust Him with that as well and say: Thank God you are changing me. Yes, Thank God for God.