Did Jesus really mean it when He said in Luke 6:35-36
But love your enemies, do good to them,
and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.
Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High,
because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
If He asks us to show such love and mercy to our enemies
how much more should we show grace and mercy to those around
family; workmates; neighbours
those we come into contact with in our daily routine
Do we still have the values of the world where we expect fairness
justice; to be understood; to speak our mind
Or do we live the values of the kingdom
willing to suffer injustice; to be slighted by others;
to be taken advantage of etc.
It goes against the flesh
It doesn't have temporal rewards
But it does have eternal rewards
and we need to have eyes that see the eternal
Jesus walked the way of the undemanding;
overlooked; offended; misnuderstood and set the example for us
John 12:6 says
He (Judas) did not say this because he cared about the poor
but because he was a thief;
as keeper of the money bag,
he used to help himself to what was put into it.
But there is no suggestion that Jesus removed this responsibility from Judas
knowing that he was stealing from the funds
Yet ......
what would we do to the church treasurer that was stealing from the offering ???
This is the real challenge to our value system
God's values don't sit well with our mind or our flesh
But God knows best - and we have to walk in faith and trust
when we choose to walk His way
In choosing to walk our own way - such as walking away from a marriage
when it doesn't suit our flesh anymore
and this is wholly acceptable by our present culture
where has it left us
what has the breakdown of family life done to the whole of society??
Maybe God did know best when He said "til death do us part"
And with that as an example we can believe that all other values
that are different to God's
lead to death and destruction in the soul
Whereas God has promised to restore our soul
Give abundant life
and an eternal inheritance
But we have to choose to live by His values that offend our mind
offend our logic; offend our reasoning; offend our flesh
Choosing to believe that He knows best
But love your enemies, do good to them,
and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.
Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High,
because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
If He asks us to show such love and mercy to our enemies
how much more should we show grace and mercy to those around
family; workmates; neighbours
those we come into contact with in our daily routine
Do we still have the values of the world where we expect fairness
justice; to be understood; to speak our mind
Or do we live the values of the kingdom
willing to suffer injustice; to be slighted by others;
to be taken advantage of etc.
It goes against the flesh
It doesn't have temporal rewards
But it does have eternal rewards
and we need to have eyes that see the eternal
Jesus walked the way of the undemanding;
overlooked; offended; misnuderstood and set the example for us
John 12:6 says
He (Judas) did not say this because he cared about the poor
but because he was a thief;
as keeper of the money bag,
he used to help himself to what was put into it.
But there is no suggestion that Jesus removed this responsibility from Judas
knowing that he was stealing from the funds
Yet ......
what would we do to the church treasurer that was stealing from the offering ???
This is the real challenge to our value system
God's values don't sit well with our mind or our flesh
But God knows best - and we have to walk in faith and trust
when we choose to walk His way
In choosing to walk our own way - such as walking away from a marriage
when it doesn't suit our flesh anymore
and this is wholly acceptable by our present culture
where has it left us
what has the breakdown of family life done to the whole of society??
Maybe God did know best when He said "til death do us part"
And with that as an example we can believe that all other values
that are different to God's
lead to death and destruction in the soul
Whereas God has promised to restore our soul
Give abundant life
and an eternal inheritance
But we have to choose to live by His values that offend our mind
offend our logic; offend our reasoning; offend our flesh
Choosing to believe that He knows best
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