HOW
AND WHEN TO BE PROTECTED FROM ENEMIES
Trust
in the LORD, and do good… - Psalm 37:3(NKJV)
Phocas was a fourth
century Christian who lived outside the city of Sinope. He was highly
hospitable to travelers. Many travelers enjoyed refreshment and baby rest in
his garden. Phocas always took the opportunity to share his faith with all such
travelers. Despite his great generosity, one emperor Diocletian ordered that
all Christians should be killed. And Phocas of Sinope was high on the list some
magistrates issued. Interestingly, when the officers of the magistrates arrived
at Sinope, hot and weary from a long day’s journey, they naturally enjoyed the
refreshment in Phocas’s garden. Shockingly, when Phocas asked them of their
mission he was told they had been ordered to execute a local Christian called
Phocas. “I know him well,” Phocas said. “He doesn’t live far away at all. Why
don’t you…rest for the night, and I will direct you to him in the morning.”
During the night, Phocas dug a hole, in the garden he loved, large enough to
take a human body. At dawn he woke the Roman soldiers and told them he was
Phocas. Bishop Asterious, narrator of this story, recounts the astonishment of
the men and their insistence that they could not put to death a man who had
been so kind to them.
What was Phocas’s
response? “Oh, please do,” he said. “I am a Christian, death is not important
to me; whereas if you do not fulfill your orders you will get into trouble.
Think of yourselves. You must do your duty. It will not alter my love and
affection for you.” So Phocas was accordingly executed, and his body was gently
lowered into the garden grave. Indeed “[a] love that had given so much to all
passing travelers had no more to give; it had given all” – Ian Barclay in his Living
and Enjoying the Fruit of the Spirit. Phocas’s story illustrates real love,
the ability to love enemies, the unlovely and the unattractive. He aptly
followed Jesus’s example.
There are many lessons
to draw from the examples of Jesus and Phocas. Firstly, we need not fret
because of our enemies. We should rather take their presence as an opportunity
to do good to them. Secondly, we should always put our trust in God and dare
the consequences. We must also commit our lives and ways to the God. But we
should leave the results to Him. God always acts justly in everything; so even
if He does not ‘deliver’ us, it will ultimately work out for our good. Although
Phocas was eventually executed, he is no doubt an epitome of real love.
Thirdly, always endeavour to depend on God entirely and keep His way
(commandments) – love!
Do we have to always
behave in the way Phocas did? Certainly not! “Love does not delight in evil.”
This means that it does not revel when others grovel. Love thus does not glee
in injustice. James Riddle wrote, “Even
though we are to love our enemies, sometimes we need to protect ourselves from
them. That means that there are times when we should pray that they are even
taken out of our way. That goes for enemies in this natural world as well as
our spiritual world.” In addition, we should always endeavour to bring wicked
people to justice. Truly, there are times when extreme measures are to be taken
for the greater good. For instance, “if an enemy threatens your family, you
must protect your family first.” And protect the masses as well. Love is wise.
Richard
Obeng Mensah, author of Persecutions are Promotions.
Email: richardobengmensah@gmail.com.
Blog: www.richard-obeng-mensah.blogspot.com
