Bless Those Who Curse You

Does anyone else find this passage incredibly difficult to live out? I do. My natural reaction is not to bless those who curse me or my family. But then I think of the story of Corrie ten Boom who after one of her lectures on grace, shook hands with a former prison guard from the Nazi concentration camps where her family was killed. What grace it took to shake the hand of the one who was her enemy and cursed her family. Jesus expects us all to follow that same directive – bless those who curse you.

So what does that look like? How do I pray for someone who curses? The context of the passage seems to say, pray good things for that person who did wrong. I am to leave my vengeance for God and approach this unloving person with the same love God approaches me.

We can cry out to God and say, “You know what happened. Your love can conqueror my unloving heart. I am to reflect you in all I do. Help me to give it completely to you and love.”

Jesus said it is easy to love those who are like us, who are on our side and treat us with respect. The challenge is to love our enemies, those who curse us, persecute us and spitefully use us.

Christ tells us to bring those who curse us to the Father in prayer. Because we are the righteousness of God, we don’t allow those who treat us poorly to determine how we treat them. Instead, as we receive His love, we love others. It is only through God’s grace that my heart can be transformed.

To bless a person doesn’t mean we have to like what he or she did to us. But we do have to love that person with the love of God and pray the blessings in his/her life. To bless means we pray for complete restoration and all that God has for that person.

So Lord, hear my prayer. I desire to be more like you. Help me bless those who curse me. Help me show your character in this situation, to be more concerned about being your child and emulating my Father than being right or getting back at someone. I can pray for that person as Jesus did, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:24). I can choose to love, not by my own power, but by yours.