NOVEMBER 26, 2025

 “The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.” 

― G.K. Chesterton

EZEKIEL 36-37

33“ ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will resettle your towns, and the ruins will be rebuilt. 34The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through it. 35They will say, “This land that was laid waste has become like the garden of Eden; the cities that were lying in ruins, desolate and destroyed, are now fortified and inhabited.” 36Then the nations around you that remain will know that I the Lord have rebuilt what was destroyed and have replanted what was desolate. I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.’(36:33-36) 

1 PETER 3

8Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10For,

“Whoever would love life

and see good days

must keep their tongue from evil

and their lips from deceitful speech.

11They must turn from evil and do good;

they must seek peace and pursue it.

12For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous

and his ears are attentive to their prayer,

but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”^a

JOURNAL 

Yesterday, as I listened to Miles Adcox talk with Dax on the Human School podcast, one phrase cut straight into me. Miles kept returning to the idea of standing in your divinity. Not in arrogance, not in perfection, not in some spiritual theatrics, but in the quiet, grounded awareness that the Spirit of God actually lives in me. That my story, my uniqueness, my fears, my tenderness, my history, and even my wounds are all part of a divine architecture. Listening to Miles and Dax unpack what it means to honor the spirit of God in yourself and then honor it in others felt like someone finally giving language to something God has been slowly teaching me.

With that fresh in my mind, reading Peter today hits differently. When he tells us to repay evil with blessing, he is not giving us a rule to obey for the sake of rule-keeping. He is inviting us to live from our divinity, to live from the Spirit of God instead of the instinct of fear or self-protection. It is an invitation to trust God with tomorrow by obeying Him today, even when today feels contrary to logic.

The command to repay evil with blessing still unnerves me. Everything in me wants to protect myself and retaliate. When I think honestly about the people who have harmed me, the idea of wishing blessing on them feels unnatural. Yet that was exactly what Jesus preached, and it is exactly what Peter echoes. And it is the essence of what Miles was trying to describe. When I bless those who harm me, I am not excusing evil. I am stepping out of the smallness of my fear and into the largeness of who I truly am in God.

Peter gives me a grounding line. He reminds me that the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. In other words, God sees it. God judges it. God does not ignore it. It is simply not my job to punish it. When I love in the presence of wrongdoing, I participate in exposing the truth without becoming its judge. I stand in my divinity instead of collapsing into my old patterns.

Standing in my divinity also requires something I often avoid: forgiving myself. That may be even more difficult than forgiving my enemies. Even when I know God has forgiven me, I sometimes cling to guilt as if it proves something. But if I refuse to extend compassion toward myself, I cannot authentically extend it to anyone else. The divine spark in me gets smothered when I refuse to honor who God has made me to be.

Ezekiel’s vision reminds me that God rebuilds what has been ruined. The desolate places of my life are not signs of failure. They are places where God plants something new. When God restores a person, He does it in a way that invites the world to look and say, this land that was once desolate has become like the garden of Eden. That is what standing in my divinity looks like. It is letting God rebuild what was broken and then having the courage to live from that newness.

Today is another invitation to do exactly that. To stand in the love and forgiveness of God. To live from the Spirit within me rather than the fear within me. To allow His presence to shape my thoughts, my reactions, and my relationships. The love that God pours into me is meant to flow out of me. It is meant to reach even those who stand against me.

This is what Jesus meant when He said to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. He was inviting us to step into a way of living that reflects the divine nature of our Father. He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good. He extends grace where we would withhold it. And when I choose to love only those who love me back, I am not living from my divinity. I am living from my fear.

Miles said something that keeps echoing in me. When you stand in your divinity, you stand in your truth. And when you honor the divinity in someone else, even someone who has hurt you, you call them back to their truest identity as well.

That is the path I want to walk. Not the path of fear, or self-defense, or retaliation, but the path of sacred presence. The path where I live from the Spirit of God within me and trust Him fully with the outcomes I cannot control.

This is the holy work of today. This is the life Jesus invites me to live.

43“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighborⁱ and hate your enemy.’ 44But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

MATTHEW 5:43-48