The editor of a small, obscure magazine, The Philistine, needed to fill some blank space in order to publish his March 1899 edition. He chose a seemingly insignificant article. It was an opinion piece about American work ethic describing the actions of a soldier in the U.S. Army. A Message to Garcia, told a story of how President McKinley needed to get an urgent message to General Garcia head of Cuban Rebel forces who was somewhere in the jungles leading his troops, not knowing that America had been drawn into their battle to be free from Spain, by the bombing of the USS MAINE.
Lieutenant Rowan was given a mission. He went without regard to his personal safety, the difficulty of the mission, he didn't know where the General was or where to start looking for him. But, he had been told he was personally selected by the President for this message of national security. Filling the role of a capable ambassador, Rowan sucessfully got the message to General Garcia.
The once filler piece has become one of the most published documents in the history of printed word, translated into every major language on earth, (over 100 million copies). Impressive as that is, this article made The Philistine a household name; and its editor, Elbert Hubbard burst onto the national scene as a writer and speaker. Who would have ever thought?
Romans 5:10 “…when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son,” “and has given us the ministry of reconciliation…Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ” 1 Corinthians 5:18, 20.
We should, must, forgive our enemies in order to be more Christ like. Christ died for us; He forgave us, and pursued us while we were still His enemies. Our reconciliation is the basis that He chose us to be messengers, ambassadors of an urgent message. Who knows where than could lead?
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It is only by loving with Christlike love that we could ever hope to make our enemies our friends. Hatred could never accomplish this.
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