Command 10 : Love Your Enemies | Day 65

Listen to Your "Perfectors"!

The problem with God's "hewers" is that sometimes they are so loud, aggressive, and forceful that we close our ears to what God is trying to say to us through them. Often God is trying to tell us:

Find balance in your life and message, because truth out of balance leads to heresy.

One of the most powerful diagrams in the Basic Seminar describes the development of concupiscence. This diagram has a "perfector" story behind it. The diagram was first presented to the student body of a Bible college. After this and other teaching was shared, a spirit of revival spread throughout the campus. Based on this overwhelming response, the college president urged me to return the following year.

When I arrived on campus, I was informed that one of the professors did not agree with my teaching and had been freely sharing his reaction with the students. The president and I met with him, and I asked what caused him to disagree. He said that the chart on the development of concupiscence was incomplete.

I had diagrammed only the spiritual aspects. Following our talk, I realized that there were also psychological and physical developments. By adding these two dimensions to the chart, it took on a whole new perspective, with much deeper meaning and clearer information on how immorality develops in a person's life. In retrospect, I am very grateful to God for raising up this hewer, because millions of people have benefited from the outcome of the reaction that God stirred up in his heart.

Imbalance in one area of life will usually result in an opposite imbalance in another area.

Parents who become too strict with their children with rules in one area will often become too lenient with their children in another area. For example, one family overemphasized strict rules against any identification with the world, yet they failed to teach their children to love the Lord and walk in His ways. They emphasized religion, but not relationship. As a result they experienced reaction, not only from their children, but from other people as well.

As we continue to meditate on Matthew 5:44, we should ask ourselves if we have created enemies because they have seen imbalances or inconsistencies in our walk with the Lord. If this is the case, then God may be using our enemies to send us a message. If we listen to them and correct our imbalance, we will have new reasons to bless those who curse us.