Today’s Scripture
“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.
Matthew 5:43-47 (NLT)
Big Idea
Do something revolutionary — love the people who hate you.
Today’s Thought
OK, let’s be honest — this commandment from Jesus in Matthew 5 has to be one of the hardest commandments in the Bible to obey! “God, you want me to love the people who hate me? Did you forget the fact that they HATE me?!”
Supernatural love is a difficult idea for us natural people to grasp, develop, and demonstrate. People who hurt us deserve punishment. People who betray us deserve retribution. That’s just the way it should work, right?
But consider this: Why does God love us? Why should God love us? What can we possibly do earn the affection of the Creator of the universe? (Trying posting that one as your next status on Facebook and see what responses you get!) Yet somehow God loves you and me and every other person on the face of the earth. Incredible. That’s what makes the song “Amazing Grace” so powerful to people of all ages — God’s love for us is amazing and incomprehensible and illogical and powerful and immeasurable.
We as humans can never love as perfectly as God loves. But as r12 Christians, we are called to obey and love our enemies the way God loves them. It’s a radical demonstration of what it means to follow Jesus. So how do we do it?
Start by forgiving the person who’s hurt you. Make the choice to forgive. Keep making that choice as you move forward in the forgiveness process. And someday you may reach the place where you’re happy when you hear that your enemy has succeeded and that God is blessing that person’s life.
It won’t happen overnight. But today you can begin the process of forgiveness and change and transformation — the process of loving your enemies.
“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.
Matthew 5:43-47 (NLT)
Big Idea
Do something revolutionary — love the people who hate you.
Today’s Thought
OK, let’s be honest — this commandment from Jesus in Matthew 5 has to be one of the hardest commandments in the Bible to obey! “God, you want me to love the people who hate me? Did you forget the fact that they HATE me?!”
Supernatural love is a difficult idea for us natural people to grasp, develop, and demonstrate. People who hurt us deserve punishment. People who betray us deserve retribution. That’s just the way it should work, right?
But consider this: Why does God love us? Why should God love us? What can we possibly do earn the affection of the Creator of the universe? (Trying posting that one as your next status on Facebook and see what responses you get!) Yet somehow God loves you and me and every other person on the face of the earth. Incredible. That’s what makes the song “Amazing Grace” so powerful to people of all ages — God’s love for us is amazing and incomprehensible and illogical and powerful and immeasurable.
We as humans can never love as perfectly as God loves. But as r12 Christians, we are called to obey and love our enemies the way God loves them. It’s a radical demonstration of what it means to follow Jesus. So how do we do it?
Start by forgiving the person who’s hurt you. Make the choice to forgive. Keep making that choice as you move forward in the forgiveness process. And someday you may reach the place where you’re happy when you hear that your enemy has succeeded and that God is blessing that person’s life.
It won’t happen overnight. But today you can begin the process of forgiveness and change and transformation — the process of loving your enemies.
Prayer
Dear God, I need Your help in following Jesus’ command to love my enemies.
You know that this is something I don’t want to do, but I know it’s a huge step
in following You and becoming an r12 Christian. Give me Your strength today
to forgive the people who’ve hurt me, and give me the strength to forgive
them again tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that. Change
my heart and my life. Amen. 
This is a great message! :) -Jasmin
ReplyDeleteLoveeee it! But such a hard thing to do. I think especially girls. We have so much drama and talk about each other behind each others backs. Then rumors spread. And suddenly its just a bunch of hate. Not cool.
ReplyDeleteI really need to work on this :P --Tori Darden
ReplyDeleteI really like this one- gabby :)
ReplyDelete