Our “Idolatry/Enmity” Line
We humans have the incurable habit of pinning other people somewhere along an imaginary line. This line is stretched between two opposite poles—idolatry and enmity. And dangling from this line are all the people in our lives—parents, classmates, boyfriend or girlfriend, spouse, children, parents, coworkers, boss, etc.
Here’s how the “idolatry/enmity” line works. A new manager walks into the office. Besides his annoying laugh, he doesn’t seem like much of a threat, so we place him somewhere near the middle of our line, but a tad nearer the “enemy” pole. The next day he announces that we’ll implement a new work procedure. Immediately we yank him out of the middle of our imaginary line and pin him very close to the “enemy” side. When a coworker rolls her eyes in disgust (who had occupied a spot one-thirds toward the “enemy” side of our line), we nudge her approvingly toward the “idol” side of our line. Not that we worship her, only that she’s made us feel that good sense of solidarity in sharing a common foe.
Our little “idolatry/enmity” game has simple but firm rules: delight me, humor me, comfort me, or love me, and you get closer to my “idol” pole; but annoy me, disregard me, disappoint me, or threaten me, and you get closer to my enemy pole. Whenever a relationship promises to deliver happiness, we scoot that person toward the “idol” pole of our line. And whenever a relationship threatens to obstruct our happiness, we push that person toward the “enemy” pole of our line.
It’s an incurable habit. We do it all the time. With everyone. Without thinking.
How the Gospel Destroys Our “Idolatry/Enmity” Line
But the gospel shows us a way to snip our little line, tear down the poles of idolatry and enmity, and release our relationships into a radically different container: love. Here’s how.
Scripture reveals that we have erected our “enemy” and “idol” poles on two falsehoods. First, there is the falsehood that another human can become the source of our ultimate happiness. Second, there is the falsehood that another human can barricade our ultimate happiness. We have actually ascribed to humans what only God can do (provide ultimate happiness), and to humans what only sin can do (obstruct our happiness). God is the only source of true joy and satisfaction. And distance from God (sin) is the only cause of ultimate misery.
Since no human can give me lasting joy, nor can any human rob me of joy, my “enemy/idol” poles must topple to the ground, and with it my imaginary line on which I have strung all my relationships. So where does that leave my relationships? I must scoop them up and, by the power of the gospel, gather them into the embrace of love. In other words, I must choose to love everyone—yes, even my “enemies” (Matthew 5:44).
Why True Love Requires Faith in the Gospel
In contrast to the safe, self-oriented “enemy-idol” line, true love is risky, radical and counterintuitive. It keeps no record of wrongs suffered, nor of flatteries received, for that matter. It defies common sense. It is not natural. It involves the emotions, but acts independently of them. It has no self-surviving evolutionary value. It “seeks not her own” (1 Corinthians 13:5).
This is why true love—with all its accompanying actions of patience, extravagance, forgiveness, and sacrifice—bewilders, and even sometimes offends, all except those who know how much they have been forgiven. This is why true love requires faith in the gospel.
Loving our enemies requires that we have faith that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Forgiving those who hurt us requires that we have faith that “God for Christ sake has forgiven [us]” (Ephesians 4:32). Forsaking vengeance against those who rob us of our justice requires faith in a living King who, while now hidden from our eyes, one day will wave his scepter of righteousness and make a new world “where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).
Yes, true love requires faith.
Self-interested parental doting, image-boosting philanthropy, and even hormonal impulses often pass off as “love.” But true “love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:7-8).
Tear down the “enemy/idol” poles. Snip the line. End the game. Start loving.
